Cement trucks with plow blades. That's what will clear some Toronto roads this winter

Toronto's snow-removal fleet will look different this winter as 33 cement trucks with plow blades mounted to the front will clear some city streets. 

But the plan, which has not been made public until now, has caught some safe street advocates and councillors off-guard, leaving them urging city staff to adopt additional measures to ensure pedestrian safety.

In what appears to be a first for Toronto, city staff confirm that the converted cement trucks will account for a small portion of the city's overall 1,100-vehicle snow clearing fleet (made up largely of vehicles operated by private contractors). Staff say the trucks are an "industry-acceptable vehicle" that could help the city save money.

"Using this vehicle to provide winter maintenance is an innovative way to ensure vehicles that generally would be idle during winter months continue to be used year-round, offering potential cost savings while meeting the city's winter maintenance service levels to plow arterial roads," staff said in a statement.

But Friends and Families for Safe Streets (FFSS), a road safety advocacy group, said it is concerned about the addition of the large vehicles to the city's snow clearing fleet, even if their use is restricted to arterial roadways.

In recent years, cement trucks have been involved in a number of fatal collisions with pedestrians in Toronto. Strong safety measures are required if the city is going to use the vehicles this winter, FFSS said.

"These vehicles have such a history of preventable death for the innocent people around them," spokesperson Jessica Spieker told CBC Toronto. "That's because with the design of the cab, the drivers are very high up, and they have enormous blind zones all around them."

Spieker said the city should require the vehicles to use side-guards to prevent pedestrians from accidentally being pulled beneath the wheels. Two people should crew each vehicle, she added, with one acting as a spotter in the passenger seat of the cab.

"I would want to see some very effective additional safety measures added to make sure that this fleet of cement mixers plowing streets does not cause additional preventable tragedy and anguish and heartbreak," she said.

Coun. Gord Perks said as council debated accountability measures related to snow clearing last year, they focused on outcomes and were not provided details on the vehicles. It had not occurred to many to ask for stipulations about equipment types, he added.

"I do think the public service owes the public clear answers on what standards they're insisting on to make sure these vehicles are not going to be putting anybody at risk," he said.

City staff did not disclose to councillors that some of the winning contractors would be using cement trucks as opposed to traditional plows when council voted to award multi-year contracts. When asked why, a spokesperson said: "This level of detail was not required by city council."

Perks added that the range of vehicles used to clear snow in the city varied wildly in the early days after the service was privatized by former mayor Mel Lastman. And that has not always contributed to great results, he said.

"I remember there being fleets of just anything you could find, and they would just bolt a plow on the front of it. It was truly bizarre, like some kind of weird, dystopian movie," he said.