In 2017, Doug Ford said that…

In 2017, Doug Ford said that when he wasn't riding in a bike lane, he didn't feel safe. Why do I even have to ask what he's now thinking as he plans to threaten the lives of other cyclists, who have grown in numbers since he made that remark? I'm a driver, a runner and a cyclist; I ride anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000km per year for the past 20 years (I'm now 70); I've been hit twice in a lane shared with cars and was fortunate that I survived each encounter. I'm always safer in the bike lanes, but they don't go everywhere I want or need to go, but I'm now experienced enough as a cyclist and as a car driver to manage to survive. That said, a fellow cyclist of mine was killed on Bayview Avenue this past spring on a route I regularly travel, and saw the devastation that it has caused his family. We've had 5 other deaths this year, including one who was forced out of a bike lane by a construction obstruction. I met a young 30-something Moroccan immigrant to Toronto last year who loves our bike rental program and our bike lanes; she doesn't have a car, and doesn't need/want one ... but she depends heavily on the Yonge bike lane to get from Eglinton to Bloor and along Bloor to meet with her friends and for business uses; she is terrified of the possibility that she's going to be forced to share lanes with cars now. How many injuries and deaths of Ontario voters is the Ford government prepared to accept as collateral damage for his wrong-headed thinking that removing bike lanes will move cars faster?

Want to do something useful for the economy (the PC Government's usual drumbeat)? Expand bike lanes across the province and turn it into a cycling Mecca for tourism. Cyclists spend $. Just ask any bakery that greets us when we descend on them. Talk to any bike shop about how much we spend with them. You should be encouraging cycling, not just in Toronto, but across the Province. Quebec does it, so does BC ... and both could do more. Ontario is a laggard, but shouldn't be .... we have a beautiful Capital City (Toronto) and a beautiful Province ... we should be a cycling destination, not trying to scare people away from it.

Here's hoping Doug Ford can take his foot off the gas on this piece of legislation and think about all of the people who he could be ensuring get home safely, rather than promote a bad idea based on a junk notion about how to move cars faster. Safety be damned?