I am a resident of the west…

I am a resident of the west end of Toronto with 3 children, and I regularly drive, bike and use public transit to get around the city. My children all bike regularly, and my oldest son bikes to and from school every day.

I own a car, and traffic congestion is a problem in Toronto, but the root causes of that congestion is population growth and construction, not bike lanes. On balance, bike lanes are more likely to reduce traffic congestion than increase it, as research has consistently shown.

As a teenager in Toronto in the 1990s, I used to bike about 50km a week to get to high school, and I was nearly hit by a car several times. As I bring up my children in Toronto today, I feel comfortable with them biking to school and other activities because of the bike lanes in our neighbourhood, including the protected bike lane on Bloor St. West. To remove bike lanes, or slow the introduction of new bike lanes, by passing Bill 212 would put my children at significantly greater risk of being killed in an accident. What greater responsibility does the Government of Ontario have than to keep its residents, most of all its children, safe?