I live in Toronto and do not…

I live in Toronto and do not drive. Cycling and public transit are my only ways of getting around this city, and have been for the nearly 40 years I've lived here.

I use my bicycle to get my two young children (a 4 and 1 year old) to and from their school and daycare. This is done mostly using residential side streets, as there is no bike lane along the majority of the route in question. We spent a significant amount of money on a large enough bike to seat both children safely. This is not a hobby - it is my one and only commuter vehicle.

I have had a car attempt to run me off of the road before. This was on a residential side street only a few hundred meters from my child's school, *while my child was on the bike immediately after kindegarten pickup.* This because the driver was angry that I used my legal right to occupy the full lane, mid afternoon outside of rush hour, and felt entitled to pass me illegally in an intersection, cutting me off directly so that I had to brake and swerve, on a single lane, one-way street. And, I should note, this was on a bike with an electrically assisted motor, and that I was moving at the speed limit for the street in question. I was not "impeding traffic," and was fully complying with all laws.

All this so that the driver could get to the red light that awaited us 50 meters down the road one spot in front of me. I pulled up alongside to point out how dangerous their behaviour had been, and was yelled at because I didn't pull over and let them pass, despite me not having room to allow them to do so safely.

This bill is absolutely backwards, and will put the lives of me and my children in danger. We will not stop biking if lanes are taken out, or not installed. We will simply be *in* the car lanes instead. This bill is going to put human lives at risk, and is a clear step backwards that is against evidence based urban planning approaches. You don't relieve traffic by making more space for cars - you do it by providing viable alternatives to them.

I cannot believe that this is a priority for the provincial government - it is the most cynical kind of irresponsible pandering.