As someone who landed in one…

As someone who landed in one of Toronto's trauma units following a bike crash whose cause can be directly tied to the implementation of the Bloor St bike lanes, one might think I would be opposed to bike lanes. The opposite is true. I am strongly in favour of bike lanes.

For the vast majority of cyclists, the general feeling is that bike lanes provide a much safer alternative to riding amongst cars. However, the implementation of the bike lanes, at least on Bloor St has been poor as it attempted to accommodate moving cars, stationary/parked cars, and cyclists. That result has been a maze of turns, elevations, and distractions.

In my case, I collided with a parking curb placed perpendicular, by design, to the direction of travel of cars and bikes.

I wish to make two points (neither of which are related to costs, fitness, environment, or other items that others will surely raise).

Firstly, with abundant parking in the Green P lots across Bloor St., it seems more productive to view roadways/highways as platforms to allow the movement of people. Viewed this way, parking of cars is a detriment to the purpose of the roadway. In very practical terms and before the installation of the bike lanes on Bloor St in Bloor West Village, Bloor St was effectively, although not in design, a 1-lane road in each direction owing to the layout of parking spaces in a few locations. This created bottlenecks and gridlock that cascaded through the area.

Secondly, in the absence of a change to the Highway Traffic Act, cyclists will continue to have the privilege of effectively occupying a full lane (I know the act is more subtle than I've stated). That places them directly amongst cars. By not continuing to provide separation between cars and bicycles, the government would be returning to a state of increased risk of collisions and increasing the legal liability for the users of the the roadway (both cyclists and drivers). I am quite certain that cyclists would prefer decreased risks while riding. I am also sure that drivers, if they weighted the options, would prefer the same.