Item - 2011.PW3.11

This report provides the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee with information on the safety aspects, risk assessment, and potential liability to the City of Toronto of no longer prohibiting the playing or taking part in any game or sport on a roadway.

There is some potential for increased public risk and liability to the City of no longer prohibiting the playing or taking part in any game or sport on the roadway.  Despite the current by-law prohibitions against the playing or taking part in any games or sports upon the roadway, these activities do occur, for the most part without incident.   Enforcement of the current prohibition is complaint driven, discretionary, and rarely applied to the extent that a fine is issued.  The current longstanding prohibition, which is common in many jurisdictions, provides protection to the City from liability and recognizes the potential risk associated with playing or taking part in a game or sport on the roadway intended for the passage of motor vehicles. This, coupled with the discretionary enforcement practice, suggests there is nothing inherently wrong with the way this issue is currently dealt with in Toronto at the present time.