I am writing to express my…

I am writing to express my concern with Bill 212. As someone who drives downtown to work daily, bike lanes have never been a source of traffic or grid lock. In fact, much more traffic and slow downs are created when there are no bike lanes, and cars must trail behind cyclists sharing the same road.

I personally feel much safer driving on roads with bike lanes than ones without; the separation of bikes and vehicles keeps everyone safe. As someone whose partner cycles as a primary form of transportation, I also feel much better knowing that they are in bike lanes and not interweaving with vehicles.

Additionally, the proposed exemption from environmental assessment sets a dangerous precedent. These assessments are in place so that governments cannot build and develop at will and ignore impacts on the environment. Trying to legislate a loophole instead of undergoing assessments points to a concerning problem: they would not be trying to skirt around it if they thought that they could pass the assessments. We should not allow this blatant disregard of environmental protections.