Comment
Bill 212, specifically the ‘framework for bike lanes that require removal of a traffic lane’, is not going to solve congestion, but it IS going to get people killed. Drivers, the people this bill allegedly ‘protects’, will have blood on their hands, and every MPP who votes in favour of Bill 212 will have blood on their hands.
I have been riding a bicycle in downtown Toronto since the 1980s, when there were zero bike lanes. And yes…there was traffic congestion back then (I was a professional courier for 2.5 years, so spent a LOT of time cycling in traffic, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year), and there were fewer cyclists. But the cyclists knew how to ride in traffic, and drivers were used to cyclists on the road. Since bike lanes have been installed (at great expense, and with careful planning) and implementation of the wildly successful Bike Share Program, the number of cyclists in Toronto has exploded. THOUSANDS of people use the Bloor St bike lane every day. These people are not going to disappear. They are not going to stop riding bikes. They will be sharing the road with cars, and I guarantee you, drivers do not want that, and cyclists even less.
There is not a single driver in Toronto (barring psychopaths) who think that reducing their commute time by 1-2 minutes is worth ending the life of another human being, or maiming someone. Yet Bill 212 will result in exactly this scenario: people trying to get to work by car, or home to see their families by car, or running errands by car, killing or maiming another person because the bike lane that that person used to ride safely in was ‘ripped out’, and suffering the trauma of that incident, when they never asked for bike lanes to be removed at all. In this same scenario, the family of a person killed is even MORE traumatized.. children losing a parent or a sibling, parents losing a child… all horrific, horrific scenarios. And every MPP who votes for this bill will have the blood and tears of these people on their hands.
No one is asking for this change. This is a petty, misguided knee-jerk reaction to distract from areas where this government is failing. I urge all MPPs (even Ford loyalists) to put human life over (allegedly) enhanced commute times for a tiny fraction of Toronto drivers (and an even tinier fraction of Ontario drivers!), especially when there is NO data that supports the conclusion that bike lanes cause congestion. None.
MPPs outside Toronto may wish to consider the costs that THEIR constituents are paying, with their hard earned tax dollars, to ‘rip out’ safe transportation infrastructure in downtown Toronto, when the emergency room in their local hospital has an 18 hour wait time, or is simply closed due to lack of funding. Or their children’s school is falling apart.
It does not escape me that ‘cyclists’ are not mentioned once in the Bill, nor have they been mentioned by the premier or his transportation minister in their numerous frothy press conferences. According to the Bloor-Annex BIA, over 8,000 people use the Bloor St. bike lane every day. Bike Share Toronto reported 5.7 million trips taken in 2023, and is on pace for more than six million trips in 2024. Along Bloor St. in the Annex, bike lane users currently make up 37% of rush-hour traffic. On a single weekday in October 2022, the City of Toronto counted 38,000 people biking through the downtown core. Are all those people just… not people, to this government? Or does the government consider these people expendable… worthless… and able to be sacrificed under the wheels of a car, in the name of a fantasy (which is a lie) of a faster commute? Have you asked the police and emergency services what they think? In the letter, “Legislation that guides road design must prioritize safety over travel times”, 120 physicians and researchers from the University of Toronto say “Research from many jurisdictions, including Toronto, shows that protected bicycle lanes reduce the risk of motor vehicle trauma for pedestrians and cyclists”, and mentions the horrific consequences of collisions as well as that “Surviving drivers involved in fatal collisions are also haunted by their experience, many suffering from life-long regret and psychological torment.”. Haunted, suffering life-long regret… and these are the people Bill 212 allegedly helps?? Appalling.
Bill 212 is going to get people killed, and it will do NOTHING to reduce commute times for drivers in Toronto. Stop this madness. Put humanity before manufactured political culture wars, and vote against Bill 212, or you will have blood on your hands.
Submitted November 14, 2024 9:24 PM
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Bill 212 - Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024 - Framework for bike lanes that require removal of a traffic lane.
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