But the plan, which has not been made public until now, has caught some safe street advocates and city councilors off guard, leaving them to urge city staff to take additional steps to ensure pedestrian safety. In what appears to be a first for Toronto, city staff confirm that the converted cement trucks will represent a small portion of the city’s total 1,100-vehicle snow removal fleet (made up mostly of vehicles operated by private contractors). Staff say the trucks are an “industry-accepted vehicle” that could help the city save money. “Using this vehicle to provide winter maintenance is an innovative way to ensure that vehicles that would generally be idle during the winter months continue to be used throughout the year, offering potential cost savings while meeting winter maintenance levels city for the plowing of arterial roads,” he said in a statement. But Friends and Families for Safe Streets (FFSS), a road safety advocacy group, said it was concerned about adding the large vehicles to the city’s snowplow fleet, even if their use is limited to arterial roads. In recent years, cement trucks have been involved in several fatal collisions with pedestrians in Toronto. Strong security measures are needed if the city is to use the vehicles this winter, FFSS said. “These vehicles have such a history of preventable death for the innocent people around them,” spokeswoman Jessica Spiker told CBC Toronto. “That’s because with the design of the cabin, the drivers are very tall and have huge blind spots around them.”
“Effective” additional security measures required: advocate
Spieker said the city should require vehicles to use side guards to prevent pedestrians from being accidentally pulled under the wheels. Two people should man each vehicle, he added, with one acting as an observer in the passenger seat of the cabin. “I would like to see some very effective additional safety measures added to make sure that this fleet of cement mixers plowing roads does not cause additional tragedy and distress that could be avoided,” he said. Coun. Gord Perks said that when the council discussed snow clearing accountability measures last year, they focused on results and did not go into detail about the vehicles. It hadn’t occurred to many to ask for conditions on the types of equipment, he added. “I believe the public service owes the public clear answers about the standards they insist on to ensure these vehicles are not going to put anyone at risk,” he said. City staff did not disclose to councilors that some of the winning contractors would use cement trucks as opposed to traditional plows when the council voted to award the multi-year contracts. When asked why, a spokesman said: “This level of detail was not required by the council.” Perks added that the range of vehicles used to clear snow in the city varied greatly in the early days after former Mayor Mel Lastman privatized the service. And that hasn’t always led to great results, he said. “I remember there were fleets of whatever you could find, and they’d just put a plow on the front of it. It was really weird, like some weird, dystopian movie,” he said. “But you’ve seen more standardization in contracts over the years. I’ve always thought this should be a public service with the highest quality vehicles and oversight.” A spokesman for John Tory said the mayor has spoken with city staff and wants “every possible piece of equipment” the city can use on roads that provide snow removal services. “Mayor Tory expects city staff to take all possible safety measures for all fleet vehicles,” Lovin Hadissi said in a statement. “If additional safety measures are required beyond those already deployed on all large snow removal vehicles, they will be implemented.” It is not clear how widely cement trucks are used as snow plows. City staff initially said New York City used the vehicles, but after CBC Toronto confirmed that was wrong, a spokesperson later revised that statement to say the State of New Jersey used the vehicles on its highways. Municipal staff did not point to any Canadian jurisdictions where cement trucks are used as plows. Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation says while it uses a variety of vehicles to clear roads and highways across the province, it doesn’t use cement trucks.
Staff could not say whether the companies would be able to obtain vehicles
The cement truck in the image is from Viola, a large asphalt company headquartered in Markham, where the image was taken by an industry source and shared with CBC Toronto. Corporate records obtained by CBC Toronto show that Viola and Infrastructure Management, one of the companies that won snow removal contracts with the city, are connected. Even if the companies were not affiliated, the winning companies are allowed to subcontract 25 percent of the work. City staff did not dispute that the plow in the image could be used. Viola declined a request for comment. Last December, CBC Toronto reported on a controversial contract that saw three companies win the right to clear snow in the city for the next decade. One of the key questions left unanswered by city staff at the time was whether or not the companies would be able to acquire enough snowplows to get the job done. By June, CBC News asked, based on a tip from an industry source, whether the winning companies could use plows mounted on concrete trucks. The city, in an email response, did not deny this, saying instead: “The city is working with suppliers where the global supply chain issue has affected the supply of equipment. The city will ensure that all equipment meets contract requirements and service levels as offered by the vendor.” Neither the city nor Tory’s office would confirm how many of the 1,100 pieces of snow removal equipment are currently ready for use.
