I live very close to the Swansea Public School, which is on Windermere Avenue near St Olaves Road, (about half way between Bloor Street West and The Queensway, and half way between Runnymede and Jane).
I don't know where the accident occured, but the nearby intersection at Windermere/The Queensway is very dangerous for a number of reasons:
1) There's a tree right beside the traffic lights for pedestrians crossing Windermere, going east. The low branches and thick leaves in summer completely obscure the lights sometimes.
2) Just past the intersection, west of Windermere, there is a stop for the westbound 501 street car. A fence about three feet above curb height separates the platform from the westbound traffic lanes on The Queensway. From Roncesvalles Avenue to Windermere is almost completely straight for about a mile, with a rise at the overpass above Parkside Drive. Every year, one or two idiots think they're driving a Red Bull-Renault at Spa-Francorchamps, go full speed the whole distance, and hit the curbing by the street car stop, launching them into the air, with the fence flipping them around, so they hit the ground upside down. I haven't seen one of those incidents, but I have heard two of them. The police were there within five minutes. They could tell what had happened, and they didn't offer the driver any help while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. They appeared to have very important paper work to do instead.
3) Since the westbound street car stop is after the intersection, the street light to go north or south for disembarking pedestrians is always red, except for rare instances when the light changes colour while the street car is passing through the intersection. The light stays red for a long time, because it first has to regulate east-west traffic on The Queensway, and also allow for left turns for those coming up lower Windermere from the Lakeshore, who want to go westbound on The Queensway.
There's always some idiot pedestrian who tries to cross in the brief interval between when the light turns red for east-west on The Queensway, and when it turns green for the left turn. He has to rely on no one running the red light, and no one false starting the green.
There's always one car who starts the left turn after the pedestrian's light has turned white, and one other car that follows him in his 'slipstream'. As far as I know, nobody's been hit by the last guy turning yet, but it's pretty much inevitable that it will happen eventually.
4) The street car stop for the eastbound 501 is east of Windermere. If you are on the northwest corner of Windermere and The Queensway, you have to cross through two sets of lights, perpendicular to each other, plus cross two sets of subway tracks. If the street car is stopped at red lights east-west on The Queensway, it's possible to cross Windermere on the red, then dash across The Queensway while the light's still green north-south, or while it's red, but green for those turning. If you can avoid being hit by the street car you're trying to catch, you're able to save 10 - 20 minutes.
