The provincial government…

The provincial government wasting tax dollars to rip out infrastructure that keeps myself and my community safe to prioritize their own wants over actual fact-based solutions to congestion is a disgusting overreach of power.

This shouldn’t need to be said, but safety should be a number one priority when it comes to designing transportation infrastructure. The Ford government is ignoring that the bike lanes that they want to rip out were put there to SAVE LIVES. It’s simply a proven fact that putting bicycles in a separate bike lane keeps people safer.“Studies in Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver have found that bike lanes and cycle tracks reduce the risk of bicycle accidents by 14% to 31%.” (CAA: Breaking the Bottlenecks). When I walk past the highschool in my neighborhood, which is very close to where Ford wants to rip out bike lanes, the bike racks are full. If this bill is to pass, these kids will be put at risk, or forced off the roads. Additionally, there are scores of delivery drivers who need those bike lanes to do their job safely. As well, when I drive, I DO NOT WANT bikes in the same lane as me. Just because I am in a car doesn’t mean I want bikers to feel and be unsafe. Apparently Ford does not share this same sentiment. However, being Premier doesn’t mean you squash the wants and needs of the citizens you are supposed to represent in favor of your personal desires.

Which leads to my next point being, removing bike lanes WILL NOT solve congestion problems. It has been shown time and time again that expanding roadways does not improve congestion. In fact “under certain conditions road capacity expansions may induce growth in traffic volumes.”(Science Direct) Induced demand from expanded roadways is in no way a new concept. The provincial Government ignoring these facts is willful ignorance at best. However, with how readily available the literature is, I’m inclined to think this is malicious intent. Further, according to the CAA’s Congestion Solutions for Canada, separate bike lanes are actually one of the recommended solutions!

I will not have the provincial government wasting my tax dollars to rip out the infrastructure that makes my life better. It’s a massive waste of money for something that WILL NOT FIX CONGESTION. Ford has done nothing to prove that this is any sort of actual solution, and the actual research done in this area opposes him.