Nov., 22, 2022, To the…

Nov., 22, 2022,

To the Environmental Registry of Ontario:

Whether you drive four wheels, ride two, or are a pedestrian, everyone in a vehicle, on a bike, or walking, deserves to feel safe as they travel city streets.

It’s why traffic lights, speed limits and road rules exist.

It’s why sidewalks and crosswalks were created.

It’s why bike lanes, cycling infrastructure, speed cameras and other traffic-slowing tactics were introduced.

Around the world, and here in Toronto, these are the basic safeguards in place to ensure that everyone, no matter your mode of transportation, can get home alive.

Our 23-year-old daughter did not get home alive on Dec. 2, 2020.

She was hit by 3 cars on Dufferin Street as she was cycling home to her apartment five-minutes away. Speed and distracted driving were factors.

Tragically, Dufferin Street did not have bike lanes in 2020.
Sadly, it still does not.

Like Bill 212 – Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time, Bill 60 – Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act is wrong on so many levels.

Once again, this is an act that interferes with municipal jurisdiction --- city streets are the purvey of municipality’s, not the province. The way Bill 60 is being rushed through by bypassing committees and shutting down public debate is an even more gross abuse of power.

The most terrifying aspect, though, is how hell-bent our Premier and his government is to reduce and eliminate proven safety measures that keep cyclists and pedestrians safe from vehicular traffic. And, he’s doing it all so that drivers might save a few minutes in their commute.

What leadership, in what country, places that little value on human lives?

Cars are deadly weapons. Stripping away evidence-based, proven safety measures for pedestrians and designated bike lanes for cyclists is like removing the safety catch on those weapons. That’s what Bill 212 tried to do, and because that didn’t work, Ford’s going at it with Bill 60 to prioritize time over life.

What’s next? Taking away stop signs and traffic lights so that motorists can get to their destinations even faster?

We have sincerely lost our way as a society when we value the convenience -- or inconvenience in this case -- of one group of society versus the safety of others.

It shouldn’t be one or the other -- it should be safety for all … and if that means motorists getting delayed a few minutes when it might mean saving someone’s life, then so be it.

We would gladly sit in a car in traffic for the rest of our lives if it meant our daughter would be alive today. No family should ever have to suffer such devastating, preventable tragic loss.

We urge this committee to see how wrong this senseless and dangerous legislation is, and to never let it see the light of day.

Safe streets for all.