I am 31 years old living in…

I am 31 years old living in Hamilton, having moved from Toronto in the last 2 years. I received my G1 a few months back. Getting my G1 was prompted by my anticipation of starting a family soon. However, I do not wish to drive when possible so to stay physically active, and hope to bike with my future children safely, too.

The proposed bill is anti-choice and anti-safety. There is no reason I should be put at risk for wishing to commute using my own two legs, whether it be against the pavement or a bike pedal, over a using a motor vehicle. I already bike from work on some occasions (and did so too when living along Danforth in Toronto), and would do it more were the infrastructure improved. The removal of this infrastructure would be devastating and negatively impact my health. I have a desk job and biking is one of the few physical activities I can reliably perform that fits in my busy work schedule.

This bill adds unnecessary red tape for municipalities about local, resident-driven transportation decisions for which the provincial government ought not to concern itself with. I think it is unjust for the provincial government to impose transportation restrictions against citizens of a municipality and what they want for their place of residence. If bike lane reductions need to happen, it should be decided by the local people that actually use the infrastructure. If bike lanes need to be added, the process should not be further slowed down through legislature; I firmly believe such processes are already too slow in Ontario.

Bikes move more people per square meter than cars, trucks, and SUVs by simple virtue of being significantly less bulky. I do not believe we need to expand the number of car lanes to get better throughput capacity. Rather, we need more and better infrastructure for all the alternative methods of transportation which have greater throughput efficiency and move more with less space. However, this bill is currently leading us the complete opposite direction with its cars-first-and-only approach.

I do not wish to lose my future children in an preventable accident due to a lack of safe biking infrastructure. I do not wish to get killed for wanting to live an active lifestyle. This bill deeply threatens the safety of many. Not just for today, but for years to come.