The Kensington Market area sees more than its share of traffic collisions, data shows.
TorontoToday combined a decade of police collision data with city traffic counts to produce a map of downtown's 20 most collision-prone intersections, in relation to traffic levels. The analysis took in 644 intersections in the downtown and west end where the city has counted traffic.
While Kensington Market has less overall traffic than many other parts of the city, its streets see a disproportionate number of collisions that are reported to police.
Notably, there is a tight cluster in the centre of the Market, taking in Augusta and Baldwin (#18 on the top 20 list), Baldwin and Kensington (#5 of the top 20) and Kensington and St. Andrew (#2). Between the three intersections, there were 100 reportable collisions between 2014 and 2024.
Collisions are reportable when there are injuries, or where they cause damage over $2,000.
Driving in Kensington at busy times is a learned skill, says Serena Purdy, board chair of the Friends of the Kensington Market.
"You really don't know what's moving at what speed and coming from which direction most of the time, and if you don't know the sort of pace of the market, if you don't build that into whatever mode of transport you're taking through it, it's pretty easy to get into an accident," she explains.
"Delivery drivers have no idea how to navigate a lot of places in Kensington because it's a confusing place. It takes a lot to figure out how to get around a pedestrianized zone for a place as busy as the market is."
Looking at collisions where pedestrians were injured or killed in relation to counts of pedestrians, nearby intersections also stand out: Baldwin and Spadina, and Nassau and Spadina are both on a top 10 list.
(Intersections with two or fewer pedestrian collisions were excluded from the calculation.)
But personal injury accidents are fairly rare inside the market area itself.
"You really can't get up to a significant speed in Kensington," Purdy explains. "It can be difficult to manoeuvre cars around each other, because there's some tight spaces and challenging driving."
TorontoToday's coverage area: Worst intersections for all types of collisions
Intersections with 20 or fewer collisions excluded from the calculation
