Rocket Talk: When's the TTC Going to Roll Out More Fare Collection Methods?
Newsstand: November 9, 2009
Zack Taylor in Disney Mama Drama
Santa's Weston Workshop
The Daily Photoist: November 9, 2009
On Tuesday, 15-year-old skateboarder Ben Davis and friends were hanging around at Adrift Skate Shop in Kensington Market, when they decided to take advantage of the nice weather and hit the streets. Davis was at the end of a line of skaters and didn't notice that a blue Chevy Impala was driving straight toward him. And apparently the driver of the Chevy didn't see Davis either because it drove right into him, sending him flying through the air. Davis wasn't seriously hurt—dude broke his wrist and received some stitches. But he has been ticketed for skateboarding in the middle of the road. The driver was not charged.
Footage of Davis' accident was caught on a surveillance camera and posted on YouTube on Wednesday. While it may not become a internet phenomenon on the scale of "The Great Kensington Litterbug/Cyclist Confrontation of 2006," the incident does add fuel to the argumentative fire of those who support a car-free Kensington Market. Like, everyday, not just Sundays.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
It is sad when people and vehicles meet at high speeds :(
And yes, I do not remember who said it first, but the Market didn't have cars 100 years ago, and it won't have cars 100 years from now, either.
That dude was skateboarding in the middle of the road where cars drive and not paying attention to the oncoming traffic so boo fuckin' hoo.
Those Kensington skateboarders are jackasses. They constantly impede pedestrians, cyclists and cars as if they own that road. More than once I've had to stop my bike hard so I didn't hit one of them as he tried to impress the world with his coolguy skateboard tricks, oblivious to anything else on the road.
Too bad he got hit, but it's his own fault.
Keeping cars out of Kensington is bad for the businesses there (how to get goods to and from their storerooms?), and shoves the neighborhood even further down the path of being a phoney urban fantasy-land.
I'm glad to hear the kid was alright; I was walking by when it happened and saw him being carried off in a stretcher.
I love Kensington Market, I love car-free Sundays and I love alternate forms of transportation. But Too many people in the market think that there's nothing wrong with skating or biking right in the middle of a one-way street going the wrong way. If the kid had gotten cliped from the curb, well then I'd blame the driver. But if you watch the video he's doing ollies with his head down in the middle of the street going the wrong way. Of course its his fault.
Can't say I disagree. But...charging him? Hasn't he learned enough of a lesson with a broken wrist?
I really love how the article on City News makes him out to be a huge victim.
The Chevy should've noticed him ... there was a stream of skaters right before him. But dude? Don't skate the wrong way in the middle of a road. You get hit, and you and your friends don't get to be indignant about it. I'm really glad he's ok, but what he did was idiotic.
I find it very odd that the person walking by in the foreground doesn't react at all...just keeps walking as though nothing happened!
I dunno guys, I think Dave has the right idea. Dude is skating down the middle of the street against the flow of traffic and not even paying attention. I'm sure its not fun getting hit by a car but dude pretty much had it coming regardless of the fact that the driver probably ought to have been paying attention too.
I think that the skateboarder should have been more careful, but you can see the car just barely miss the guy with the green shirt, and then plow right into the next person. He was driving too fast too. Nobody sticks to the sidewalks in Kensington, so motorists should be extra careful there.
"I find it very odd that the person walking by in the foreground doesn't react at all...just keeps walking as though nothing happened!"
I was thinking the same thing. She glances in the direction of the accident, then goes back thinking about what she's going to make for dinner.
I guess that's Toronto for you.
Weird things happen in Kensington. She probably thought it was some sort of street performance art or something.
The city has a serious problem with driver pedestrian "accidents", over 200 people a year struck while they are in crosswalks.
This has nothing to do with that, this is just a dumbass who got off lucky.
I don't see the connection either. A Car-Free Kensington may well make the area safer but it seems the problem here was someone (skater) disobeying the traffic laws that exist for his safety.
Even at low speeds a car can seriously injure or kill someone who doesn't see it coming. Regardless of whatever charges the skateboarder deserves, if any, the driver should automatically be charged. Breaking the law and walking/blading/boarding/hopscotching in the middle of the lane doesn't mean drivers should have carte blanc to do whatever they want. The driver should have seen him and stopped, regardless of whether he was in the wrong by being there.
I can't even imagine what it must be like to be behind the wheel and hit someone. I hit a dog once on a busy highway and I felt like I was going to vomit.
As a usual pedestrian and a cyclist, I've been nearly creamed a few times by people being aggressive or not paying attention. The closest I ever came was in the summer when I was crossing a street and a woman on a goddamn cell phone flew through the intersection (and a stop sign) without stopping. I was in mid-stride and holding a plastic bottle of Diet Coke, and the car actually clipped the bottle out of my hand! Had I been a step further than I was, blammo.
The most infuriating part was that she still never noticed she clipped me and flew through the intersection totally oblivious to this day. The image of her chatting on her cell phone is adrenaline-burned into my mind in crystal clear slow motion.
i shouldn't be laughing at the skateboarder, but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't.
Skating in the middle of the road is ALWAYS a bad idea. Doing it the going the wrong way on a one way street is really stupid. Ollying while going the wrong way down the middle of a one way street is simply suicidal.
Skater jackass needs MANY more charges and the driver should get a medal for trying to help clean the gene pool. Darwin is shaking his fist at missing this idiot skater, for now.
There are far too many pedestrians, cyclists and skaters who get hurt by bad drivers in Toronto every year.
This punk is not one of them.
It's clear from the video that he and at least one of the two skaters in front of him were playing chicken with the cars. The other two got the car to swerve; he wasn't so lucky. Note also that the car was already braking when the punk skated into its path, and to avoid him the driver would have had to go up on the sidewalk, possibly hitting the woman with the shopping bag.
Police reports are typically biased against drivers in cases like this, and without this video to show the police who was really at fault, they likely would have charged the driver with reckless driving causing injury.
But, as demonstrated, the fault does not always lie with the driver.
The Kensington skateboarders are almost as annoying as the cars, nothing better than some dude trying to kick flip a board and you take one to the shins trying to walk by.
From what I heard, the driver honked agressively from the stop sign at Oxford, then floored it. Yah the skaters were playing chicken with the car, asserting their presence in a public space. Cars generally slow down so as not to cause an accident. This driver succumbed to rage and asserted his "rights" on the road.
Look at the video. He's clearly going faster than the car before.
The speed limit is 40km/h all up Augusta. To reach a speed of 40 between stop signs you basically have to floor it. No, the driver was not technically breaking the law, but operating heavy machinery in public carries more responsibility than riding a skate board, and just following the rules isn't enough.
He could have killed that kid, all because he endulged his self righteous road rage and "get out of my way" mentality. Hopefully the driver is traumetized and will think twice before speeding through the Market.
How about a realistic speed limit. There's no reason to go more than 20km/h anywhere in Kensington. it's just not safe.
MLJ
ive been a skateboarder in toronto for 20 years and you have to be aware at all times. ive skated in the road lots of times and awareness comes before anything else,he should have been watching what he was doing being that they ride there all the time and know the area so id say its his fault,but at the same time drivers in this city are way to aggressive for anyones good,just this morning as i was finishing work on queen st i was riding home on my bike and a lady at queen and ossington had just got a coffee hopped in her car and pulled out into the lane i was riding and hit me,so i kicked her car,she was still not aware because she was driving and counting her money at the same time. i could only laugh at her and cringe at the same time,i yelled at her and she treated it as if its my fault.we all need to be aware ,riders and drivers alike.to many people speed to get somewhere and a tragedy happens,all because they cant manage their time. they also have a mini skatepark in the back of the skateshop so there is no excuse for this accident.within a month and a half we have another skatepark at scadding court for the spring,summer and fall,so this will help alleviate some of this problem.for more info on the park email me at socialistic1 at yahoo dot ca
The driver had the choice to stop/or slow down to avoid the collision. The person chose not to.
Enough said.
I'm in Kensington market on foot at least once a week. It's where I do my food shopping. I would selfishly love it to be car-free: I love walking, being outside, getting some air into my lungs, running into neighbours and friends... but I don't know how that choice would affect the lives of other people in the area, such as residents and business people/shop owners.
I really sympathize with everyone's stories- I get nearly-run-over by impatient drivers on an almost weekly basis. It makes me appreciate my chosen methods of transportation that much more.
As far as this skateboarder goes, we can speculate all we want. I'm just glad the guy didn't end up dead and I hope both will take more care.
MLJ: "From what I heard, the driver honked agressively from the stop sign at Oxford, then floored it."
Where did you hear that?
Chriiiist, from this post and some of the comments, you'd think that a drunk Donald Trump had plowed his Escalade clear though a SKATEBOARD PARK, maiming a healing circle of single moms, who were just trying to nurture their preemie babies.
The ticket issued failed to get the attention of the shame/wreck-less skater but alas, he is young, and might get it later. If the driver really did honk and then proceed at the posted speed limit, knowing that there were skaters present and playing with cars, then I bet he's thought twice about being so righteous in the future.
This block of roadway is just about the only EXIT for cars to LEAVE Kensington (a good thing!), I think, maybe. If so, then perhaps it should be posted at the minimum thirty km/h, and feature speed humps.
Only problem is that the community has to request the change. (and then I might twist my ankle on one of the darn things while sloppily dancing during car free Sundays)
But seriously, maybe the slowing of the street would be a STEP toward eventual closure, or at least lessen the friction between cars and other users.
While I agree with the other posters' views that the skateboarders were acting irresponsibly, I can't help but remember the fact (drilled into my head by driver's ed, thank you) that when you get into car and drive, you are responsible for operating your car safely, despite outside conditions.
That means if punk skaters are weaving around your car, you go slow or you stop. If the car in front of you brakes, you brake to avoid rear-ending it.
Kudos to rp for providing info about places for skaters to go instead of riding on the roads. It's too bad Toronto can't do like Winnipeg or Whistler and build a really great permanent skatepark, helping to avoid situations like these in the future.
winnipegskateparks dot com, click on "parks" for examples.
No sympathy for this kid, that's for certain!
I like the idea of skateboard parks. Problem is that the liability issue crops up all the time. Some Forest Hill twerps Daddy would sue the city's ass off if the precious got hurt in one.
I'd bet the driver would've been charged if this happened in F/H or one of those neighbourhoods.
quote"
No sympathy for this kid, that's for certain!
I like the idea of skateboard parks. Problem is that the liability issue crops up all the time. Some Forest Hill twerps Daddy would sue the city's ass off if the precious got hurt in one.
I'd bet the driver would've been charged if this happened in F/H or one of those neighbourhoods.
[27] Posted by: MGV | March 16, 2007 3:30 PM"
i know of the kid in question,bad move on his part and shoudnt have been on the street,and if your on it watch out.the skateboard park liability issue is almost not one,i built the park at dundas and worked with a risk management company to draft guidelines for it. the insurance clause is the same as basketball or hockey would be,so the issue is space and time.ive been trying to organize and get an indoor park for a while now,and i hope in the future it will happen.
"Yah the skaters were playing chicken with the car, asserting their presence in a public space" - MLJ post #20
Asserting their presence? So the skateboarders have a right to the road to do their stupid tricks on? What horseshit.
Well, if they were playing chicken with oncoming traffic that had the right of way, then the skateboarder is 100% at fault.
This incident has nothing to do with the dream of a car-free Kensington Market - it has everything to do with a skateboarder getting hit by a car because he was being an obnoxious jackass - "asserting" his presence where he had no right to do so.
dear responders:
skateboarders are not trying to impress you, they're trying to have fun. we honestly do not care what you think about our 'coolguy' tricks, we're having fun doing them. people are all over the road in kensington, it's a known fact, everyone has to respect it and act accordingly, not like they're on the highway. there is a stop sign about 50 feet away from where ben got hit. the driver would have to have been flooring it to get as fast as he/she was going by the time they hit my friend. you can't logically take the side of a motorist who was flooring it down augusta, that's completely irresponsible driving.
diane, i have never heard anything so pathetic and stupid in my life. 'playing chicken' with the cars? you watch too many movies. skateboarders don't play chicken, they skateboard. did you see ben enticing the car in the footage? was he begging it to hit him? i honestly can't believe that people like you- who try to justify reckless driving resulting in serious injury- are allowed out in decent society. you're a miserable old idiotic cunt, and if you took the time to have a nice polite chat with these 'punks', you'd realize they're actually very polite, LOGICAL citizens who just so happen to have fun, as so many young people do. unfortunately, you've got this ignorant image about skateboarders as being 'punks' and you probably won't be able to get past that so you'll never open you're mind enough to learn something about them... or anything at all. keep being a close-minded bitch, it's a really great quality to have.
what it all comes down to is ben davis is a really nice guy, and you guys talk like he deserved worse than what he got. he's taking this all with a grain of salt too, which speaks a lot about his character. i love how quickly you assholes jump to calling someone you don't even know a 'punk' and make unbelievably ridiculous and unfair judgments about them, but it's time to do some growing up. you know you wouldn't say anything to his face, you just love being whiney little children on the internet because you know nobody would tolerate this kind of immature banter anywhere else.
it's sad that a 20 year-old 'punk' skateboarder has to tell a lot of older people to stop being immature and smarten the hell up, but you dumbshits were really asking for it.
Um, one commentator used the word "punk" against the skateboarder, and another used it in a comment sympathetic towards the skateboarder, and you find this gives you moral grounds to call everyone here either a "cunt", "bitch", "asshole", or "dumbshit"? Real polite and logical, yeah.
And what the hell is with the ageism?
Al said: "you're a miserable old idiotic cunt, and if you took the time to have a nice polite chat with these 'punks', you'd realize they're actually very polite, LOGICAL citizens who just so happen to have fun, as so many young people do. unfortunately, you've got this ignorant image about skateboarders as being 'punks' and you probably won't be able to get past that so you'll never open you're mind enough to learn something about them... or anything at all. keep being a close-minded bitch, it's a really great quality to have."
Is this your example of how polite skaters are? If so, you're painting a worse picture of them than anyone in this thread.
By the way, I'm 19. And up to a year and a half ago, I was a skater too.
to ben and friends...
hope the wrist and knee heal up. looked pretty nasty when i first pulled that pant leg up to take a look before bandaging it. ;)
to the skaters - play safe ladies and gents! ...and to the drivers out there - heads up and slow down for heaven's sake! it's kensington market not cayuga.
d
i think skating or cycling the 'wrong way' down augusta avenue should be a new religion. don't forget to watch for j-walking pedestrians, god bless their traffic-calming souls. cars are the wrong way and when they're flooring it wrecklessly down the street, they turn your nighbourhood into a freeway. i'm not saying the skaters are heroes fighting to liberate the commons, but they certainly keep public space from merely serving the mundane drone of private interests.
i happen to spend a lot of time on the block where 'skater dude' got hit, i run a business there and help organze car-free "pedestrian sundays" in the market. it's a fact that i hate cars and what they've done to society and the biosphere, but i think it is a grave error to advocate for a permantently carfree market. it would do nothing to stop urban sprawl or suv culture while destroying the core of fishmongers & fruitsellers that have made kensington what it is. the temporary car-free model doesn't change the actual streets but forever changes the way you perceive them. it has a consciousness-raising agenda and has parallel examples in paris, brussels, bogota, quito, and a hundred cities in italy to give just a few examples. it is a meme that will catch on in other areas of the city this year and is part of a movement towards liveable cities and a sustainable future. without sterilizing the market, it empowers pedestrians to take back the commons.
as far as speed bumps go, they create more visual clutter (they are usually accompanied by signs showing drivers where they are) and actually make cars go faster (as they race from bump to bump) while increasing air pollution (as drivers accelerate and brake repeatedly).
finally, the fact that the cops added insult to injury by issuing the skater kid a ticket is a callous demonstration of how they don't do a good job of taking care of all citizens. perhaps they should start ticketing cars going the wrong way down augusta, a daily occurence. they could also get cars that park in bike lanes and maybe even push to ban cell-phones and fast food in autos, seeing as those poor caged souls have multiple life-threatening addictions.
let's put things in perspective folks, one in a hundred people are killed in an auto accident, not under the wheels of a skateboard. to crap on skater-kids instead of the four-wheeled menace is to take the side of the selfish, greedy death merchants who will ultimately destroy all life on earth.
shamez
I can't believe all the hate against this kid. Let's put this into perspective. There is an intersection JUST south of where this kid got nailed. That driver had time. That kid popped a flip because he thought he had time. This accident shouldn't have happened. To all you people that hate on this kid I hope your're thinking of him when your kid is playing road hockey or riding his beke or walking or chasing his ball, whatever, AND GETS SMOKED by some irresponsible ass that can't be bothered to take care whilst driving. The guy in the car has a responsibility to pay attention to whats going on around him. Fuck whatever the LAW says, cars kill people. that guy was driving a 4000 pund weapon fast out of an intersection with a stop sign straight into a kid! That's unacceptable.
Shame on the driver. Shame on the cops! Pigs for a reason!
Nobody here is hating on Ben the way you seem to be hating on cars. And if you're right and all drivers are "irresponsibles asses" with "4,000 pound weapons", how stupid was the skater to get in front of this driver?
Watch the vid again. The skater could see this car coming all the way down the street, and thought he would just force it to swerve like his two buddies in front of him did. Just dumb.
Riiiiiiiiight. In the twenty feet covered in the frame of that shot, that skater sould see the car coming. What about the driver in that same space could he not see Ben? Could he have honked? Or (here's a novel idea) slow down? No he plowed into a kid in a heavy pedestrian area.
I'm not saying that Ben wasn't going the wrong way or that he is absolved of any wrong...I'm saying is if you're going to drive a car you have responsibilities. The safety of others (even people going the wrong way on a one way street) comes first. Defensive driving 101!
da hora o post!