After the tragic death of Georgia Walsh and a surge in Leaside traffic, three elementary school students have taken road safety into their own hands.Oliver Wong, Arnav Shah and Quinlan Birmingham, students at Northlea Elementary and Middle School, created Crosswalk Company, stocking bright orange flags that residents can carry when crossing the street at busy intersections.“We created a simple flag system,” said Shah, 11, of the design, primarily devised to keep children safe, although adults have been seen using the flags, too, he added. “What happens is when a pedestrian comes to cross, they look both ways, the regular stuff, maintaining eye contact with the drivers, and then they put the flag up and walk across. Not only does this make them more visible, but makes them (the drivers) more aware of the problem at hand.”Read more:Pathway closed after 11-year-old struck, killed by vehiclePolice looking for witnesses after boy, 11, fatally struck in ScarboroughOpinion | Edward Keenan: Closing a walking path is easy in Toronto, protecting children and others using them is harderIn 2014, six-year-old Walsh, daughter of former Conservative Party President John Walsh, was struck by a van in the same Leaside neighbourhood and succumbed to a serious head injury in hospital.Joseph Wong, Oliver’s father, said Leaside is beset by traffic woes, referring to cars bypassing the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project, a problem requiring creative solutions from the community. “You have cars coming through with the explicit purpose of getting across as quickly as possible,” he said. “These boys walk to school everyday and they recognized that this was a problem that needed some solutions,” Wong said. “They’ve really taken ownership of this. They have their own website, their own email address. The only thing we do as parents is host the bi-weekly meeting at one of our houses after school and just give them snacks.” ...
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