The Toronto Van Attack from the Perspective of the Van
The Toronto Van Attack from the Perspective of the Van
By: Gracelyn Shi and Ryan Chang
Hi, I’m “Ryder.” Although that’s not actually my name, it’s sprayed at the side of my door so I go by that. Does that name sound familiar? Well, you probably guessed it, I am the van from the 2018 Toronto van attack. On April 23, 2018, I was driven down Yonge Street by my driver Alek Minassian hitting multiple pedestrians. I’m here to provide my perspective on the incident, because who doesn’t want to know how the van felt?
I was a rental, a ordinary white van rented daily for various purposes (not killing however - at least not before this happened). One day, Minissian came in and rented me - no one suspected anything out of the ordinary as I’m just a van. No one really saw it coming, not even me. But I do wonder how I didn’t see it coming - it hasn’t been the first time something like this has happened and it certainly won’t be the last.
What do you mean, you may ask. Well, I am the new weapon-of-choice for terrorist attacks. Or to be more precise, my species - vehicles that is - is sparking debate over stricter vehicle-control regulations as I am not the first case of a vehicle used in an attack. To name a few: the 2016 Nice terrorist attack in France when someone drove a truck into crowds of people; the Muenster attack in Germany where a delivery truck slammed into pedestrians; the attacks in Manhattan, Barcelona, Stockholm, Charlottesville. My fellow Ryder vans have been used to detonate a bomb at the World Trade Center and a renter Ryder truck was used in a bombing that killed 168 people.
As a result of this recurring theme of vans being used as tools for terror attacks, many are now demanding that there should be stricter background checks before renting us, ‘van control’ if you will. I mean, I’m relatively cheap to rent, easy to obtain, and I don’t require much from the assailant to utilize. I guess people believe putting stricter regulations on us could have prevented me from being used to kill so many people.
In cities such as Barcelona, they’ve spent thousands of dollars on building road barricades to prevent vehicles like me from ramming into pedestrians. Now, Toronto is thinking of implementing a similar plan! Imagine, policymakers spending millions of dollars on turning Toronto into a fort - building concrete barriers around roads, erecting huge steel bollards, reminding pedestrians of the danger and horror of the attack. People will view streets differently, they’ll fear public spaces and the streets.
To be honest, I’m not too sure how I feel about this. I’m all for safety - but am I really that big of a danger? If they really did increase background checks and made me harder to obtain, then wouldn’t it be tougher for people to use me for mundane tasks too? Then, that’s just stupid - we need vans for tasks other than carrying out attacks. And if we increase street safety, we’ll rid Toronto of it’s beauty and uniqueness and turn it into a fort. Then again, even if all these measures work, what if people like Alek turn to other weapons? The conversation has turned to us, to vehicle control. But is it really going to work?
I mean, I don’t really know. I’m just a van. But, I really don’t like this narrative defaming me and blaming me. I’m not the problem, they are. So, please focus on them. And stop blaming me for their own issues.
Sources:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-van-attack-safety-1.4633552
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/vehicular-barriers-solution-to-vehicular-attacks-1.4640417
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/vehicle-attacks-timeline-1.4037243
http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/renting-a-truck-is-easy-and-tough-for-authorities-to-stop
