I am an 81-year-old woman…

I am an 81-year-old woman who has a medical condition that makes me housebound and for which I have been awaiting treatment for over a year with no end in sight. In order to live somewhat independently, I use my car, going out only when I have not eaten for many hours, in order to pick up what I need or go to doctors' and dentists' appointments. I do not use a bicycle, nor have I for many long years!

I travel on University often as I have four doctors at Mt. Sinai. I also use Bloor and Yonge a lot to get to many destinations I have to reach. I live on Bathurst north of St. Clair, where there are no bicycle lanes and where it is very treacherous for both drivers and cyclists as the four lanes of traffic are dense almost 24/7. There I have to slow down often in order not to hit a cyclist in my lane, including the many who are doing deliveries on bikes.

I was recently driving west along Bloor and this is what I thought. I was so relieved that the cyclists were in their own lane, and not weaving in and out as they often do, so that drivers have no idea where they are, or sharing one lane, so that drivers must slow to cyclists' speed in order to avoid hitting them. I could see them coming up behind me easily from my right mirror, so could be careful when we all got to a light at one time. I noticed that there were way more cyclists than drivers that day. They took up by far much less space on the road than the cars. (And 90% of the cars were carrying one person, just as the bicycles were.) I thought, if cyclists are stopping to shop on Bloor, their vehicles are easy to park compared to cars and again take up much less space. I also felt that all of us should have the right to shop on Bloor, and the businesses there should have the right to serve all of us, whether we are on foot, on a bicycle, or arriving by car.

When I got to Bathurst, where I and many others were turning right to go north, there was a clearly marked lane swap. I could make sure not to get into that right lane near the intersection, just as a cyclist was moving left to get into the lane to cross the intersection. I just had to look at my mirror and look over my shoulder and then make my move when it was safe. Simple.

Apart from the fallacies promoted by drivers who want to essentially 'hog' the road for themselves only, including the highly questionable figures on ratio of drivers to cyclists, I resent the Province interfering in a decision so clearly not in their bailiwick or level of concern, in my opinion. This is a City decision. The Province has 'bigger fish to fry' as we used to say when I was a child.

Some of the things the Province might consider addressing, instead of bike lanes put in for the safety of all, are the wait times for health care; the quality of the Toronto waterfront, where they have also interfered, for those who cannot afford summer cottages; the cost and supply of rental housing; the fact that double the number of people have to get their food from food banks than a year ago; the parks full of homeless with nowhere else to go, etc. Why are they horning in on bike lane decisions in order to create a huge safety hazard and cost, as they are removed, and an ongoing hazard afterwards, instead of attending to what should be their responsibilities? It reminds me of cancelling half the ridings in the city during an election, thereby increasing the costs of the ones left to double what they had been and creating more backlogs in service for city responses.

So I have said more than enough. Back off on the bike lane legislation and get back to the 'business' of our safety by ensuring a decent healthcare system, which is the business of the Province for sure!