Hello, What causes…

Hello,

What causes congestion is too many cars on the road. It is well known that increasing lanes worsens traffic (one example here: https://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand/). What will reduce gridlock is creating easier and more reliable methods for commuters that remove cars from the road. This includes public transit and having safe and separate bike lanes. While Toronto already has good public transit, more funding should be diverted to it (instead of being spent on removing recently installed bike lanes) to increase its reliability and frequency. In the time of an affordability crisis, a car is not affordable, insurance is not affordable, and gas is not affordable. What is affordable is public transit and biking.

Further actions should be taken by the current provincial government to instruct OPP (and to tell major cities to instruct their own police force) to further enforce the rules of the road for drivers. As someone that lives in a downtown, I have seen countless drivers blocking the box (which causes gridlock... bikes don't do this) and countless drivers driving while using their phone. This falls under distracted driving which further increases gridlock. If an effort is made by law enforcement to crack down on driving infractions, many drivers will be less distracted and prone to making errors while driving (which again, causes grid lock). This will also increase the provincial and city coffers from the fines collected for infractions, allowing more reasonable and logical road and commuting improvements to go forward, without taking money away from another area.

The solution to a smooth commute isnt to allow more cars on the road. It is to allow alternatives that take up less space per person (eg: public transit, biking,...) and to properly and effectively enforce the currently driving laws in order to create a safer and more efficient environment for both drivers and other commuters.

Thank you for your time.