Hello, I cycle to work…

Hello,

I cycle to work every day, and do our household shopping by bicycle as well. All of these trips are relatively short distance, under 5 km, one-way.

Until bike lanes were installed, these travel routines were much riskier and more distressing. There was confusion between cyclists and drivers sharing lanes. After installation, all that confusion went away, resulting in less anxiety for me, and I assume for other cyclists as well as vehicle drivers.

If there is a collision between a vehicle and a bicycle, the cyclist will suffer one hundred percent of the impact. The City of Toronto notes that over the last ten years, "28 people have been killed and 380 people have been seriously injured while cycling in the City of Toronto. 68% of these collisions took place on streets without safe cycling accommodations."

As a result of the installation of bike lanes, my wife has felt it safe enough in the city to resume cycling again after many years avoiding it due to fear of injury. She purchased a bike and we now enjoy pedalling around town together -- shopping, visiting cafes, and so on. We are both in our 60s, and cycling gives us a real benefit in physical fitness, while combined with practicality.

Ripping out the bike lanes will be very expensive, and it will also waste the City's previous investment, including extensive and thorough research. The effect will not be to relieve congestion, as the Province assumes. The City's research does not support that assumption, which is evidence-free. As the City notes, removing the bike lanes will generate "likely minimal improvements in travel time." Further, "The experience in Toronto has been that while travel times for people driving are sometimes found to increase immediately following the installation of bike lanes that impact motor vehicle lanes, once further adjustments are made to optimize operations, the long-term impacts to travel time for
drivers are generally minor."

In other words, removing the bike lanes would waste millions of taxpayer dollars to achieve, at best, minor improvements in congestion at the same time significantly increasing the risk of serious injuries and death for cyclists. These are the economic and safety arguments for bike lanes; I haven't included the environmental benefits of bike lanes, and their effect of encouraging more people to take up bicycling instead of driving, for example.

I would add that even if one is not in favour of bike lanes, Bill 212 does damage to local democracy. Toronto citizens voted for certain Counsellors, and those Counsellors overwhelmingly support bike lanes, for a multitude of reasons. Bill 212 is reckless: with public money; with safety; with environmental conditions our children will inherit without getting a say; with the democratic process.

Please reconsider and withdraw this irresponsible, evidence-free Bill.

Thank you.