To reduce traffic, complete…

To reduce traffic, complete streets must be built. The current legislation will increase traffic.

Complete streets are multimodal and have higher capacity, because they accommodate more types of higher capacity transportation. This include wide sidewalks, safe protected bike-lanes connecting to a complete network to increase usage, and bus/streetcar/transit priority/only lanes. Whenever these options are removed for an extra car lane, traffic goes up. This is because cars are inherently inefficient. Streets reach a capacity that they can handle, and then drivers choose not to drive to avoid the traffic other drivers have created. By adding lanes, you encourage more driving trips, which increases traffic. Because cars are inefficient, a few extra trips will dramatically increase gridlock until the street is clogged again.

This legislation seeks to masquerade as evidence based while obviously ignoring the evidence for good street design, and seeks to use a ignorance about the causes of traffic to win suburban votes. Due to the associated cost of infrastructure damage and repair, injury, healthcare, death, etc caused by cars (noise pollution, tire particulates, speeding, accidents, crashes), it is fiscally irresponsible to subsidize a costly mode of transport which directly correlates to a decreased quality of life for the miserable residents forced to live with its consequences.

Please consider doing the uncharacteristic thing, and heeding the well established evidence regarding cycling lanes and their benefits to communities over the decision to kill people who don't have enough money for a car or a driveway. Especially when they, who live in denser areas and use transportation methods that are a benefit to the environment and economy see their tax revenue going to subsidize modes of transport that are inherently destructive to people and the planet. Please visit a trauma ward in a hospital regularly to see whether those pedestrians and cyclists deserved the cars that hurt them.