I am deeply concerned by…

I am deeply concerned by this bill being put forward by Premier Ford and the Ontario PC Government. I live in London, Ontario, where multiple cyclists die every year as a result of collisions with vehicles. These deaths most often happen on our main thoroughfares, such as Hamilton Rd, which cyclists and cars alike must use in order to move efficiently around our city. Hamilton Rd, of course, does not have bike lanes, and every year we increase the number of deaths that take place as a direct result of that lack of infrastructure.

I'd encourage the government and Premier Ford to consider not just the very real human cost of his proposal to remove bike lanes, but also the resounding consensus in the research. I'll quote Toronto's Dave Shellnut here:

"EMS vehicles are not delayed by bike lanes in getting folks to emergency rooms as confirmed by the City of Toronto’s EMS leads.

There is not a petition of 50,000 people against the bike lanes on Bloor. It’s more like 13,000 who’ve signed over several years now and Cycle Toronto’s petition in support of bike lanes is approaching that number in just weeks.

Bike lanes are good for business! They boost sales in areas they are installed, attract higher spending clientele, can increase property values, and even attract talented work forces.

Bike lanes do not increase congestion, they move people around more efficiently, create safer driving routes (less collisions, less congestion), and get people out of single occupancy motor vehicle, which actually are the cause of congestion.

Side streets are not the answer. Unconnected segments of bike lanes that force cyclists to take circuitous routes on various side streets will not encourage people to get out of their cars and onto bikes."

Fundamentally, this Bill's foundation is misinformation. In addition to the above points, I would encourage the government to research the concept of "induced demand", a well-researched phenomena which tells us that increasing car lanes does not result in long-term improvements in traffic conditions. In fact, adding car lanes encourages more people to drive which actually worsens traffic exponentially.

If the goal of this Bill is, as it claims, to "get people and goods out of gridlock and save drivers and businesses time and money", then it would be better off proposing the rapid addition of protected bike lanes to create a bike network in every large city in Ontario. The best way to reduce gridlock is to reduce single-occupancy vehicles, and that is accomplished when people can safely choose alternative travel options, such as public transit and active transportation such as bike lanes.