Hello. I am a Toronto…

Hello.
I am a Toronto resident in the University-Rosedale constituency. I travel around the city by bicycle, by car and by walking and transit. Averaged out over one year, I probably use all three modes about equally.

The expansion of bike lanes in the past five years has made me feel safer both when I am cycling and when I am driving. The bike lanes on Bloor Street in my area (Bathurst to Dufferin) took some getting used to. But when I am driving a car, I appreciate that they keep cyclists in a safer space away from my wheels, and they also provide strong visual signals to me and other drivers to be aware of bike traffic as we make right or left turns.

When cycling in 2004, I was knocked off my bike on Bloor near Avenue Road by a car-door incident, fracturing my left hand. I was lucky the injuries were not worse.

We can't go back to those days. The Ontario government needs to recognize that Toronto's elected council is in the best position to plan the city's transportation grid in a way that keeps all users (including pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and drivers) safe and moves people efficiently.

The changes proposed in this bill will only send us backwards to a time that Doug Ford may be nostalgic for, but that no longer exists.