After being nervous about…

After being nervous about biking in the city of Toronto for many years, the combination of gas prices, climate change, gridlock, and the need to find ways of exercising more frequently to improve my physical and mental health lead me to become a bike commuter. I now ride over 20km a day on average.

Bike lanes have been a huge part of the reason I’ve felt safe most of the time I’m commuting, which as a husband and father is incredibly important to me. I should not have to feel as though I’m risking my life in order to be a part of the solution for gridlock in the city. I am proof that bike lanes reduce traffic because every day myself and other cyclists are able to commute as quickly and efficiently (or more) as the single-driver cars we drive by in traffic, with each bike representing a car that’s not making that traffic worse.

My commuting time did not increase when I made the switch from car to bike, which shows how efficiently Toronto’s network of bike lanes is capable of getting residents to and from their place of work safely, and without increasing their commute time.

The future we need, which is one of less traffic, cleaner air, and a population with improved physical and mental health (that will help alleviate demand on our health care system) is all possible with the promotion of biking, and the effort to do all that we can to make it safe and accessible for Ontario’s residents.

Removing bike lanes will absolutely cause even more cyclist deaths than we’re already grappling with. I don’t want my son to grow up without a father, or lose friends or neighbours to cycling fatalities, but by regressing our progress, as is being proposed with this bill, I fear it is a statistical guarantee this will happen.

Furthermore, the reduction in safe options for bikers to reach their destination will result in them making the decision to drive more often, which will further increase traffic and pollution in the city, and further increase the chances of a vehicle and bike collision.

This is so obvious that it concerns me that this Bill is being proposed regardless, and genuinely makes me wonder if this government values the lives, freedom,
and safety of it’s residents over creating a narrative that will help convince the mis-informed to give it their vote.

Lastly, this is a tremendous waste of resources and tax payer money. There are so many more infrastructure projects that could benefit from the time and money being wasted on this regressive bill. If your government insists on moving Ontario backwards and risking my life on a daily basis, I would have no other choice than to use whatever resources I have available to ensure you don’t get my vote, or the vote of my friends, family, and community. Please scrap this bill.