I'm excited to see the…

I'm excited to see the Province funding active transportation infrastructure in municipalities, however I am not satisfied that all of this money has gone towards infrastructure that actually makes cycling safer.

Please ensure that in the future things like "edgelines" and "sharrows" are not eligible for active transportation funding. Neither edgelines, nor sharrows provide any legal protection to cyclists. Drivers are often able to drive over, or stop/park on these facilities.

In addition, I would like to see programs to dispel some of the myths around road safety. The province should start a "crash, not accident" campaign and provide training to police and the media to encourage them to stop using the word "accident" to describe traffic collisions. This word helps support a culture of driver irresponsibility.

I would also like to see the province provide messaging to counter the "shared responsibility" messaging we often see directed at pedestrians. Things like walking with earphones, wearing dark clothing while walking or cycling, etc. are not illegal and are not related to the increase in collisions with pedestrians that we've seen.

If "distracted walking" was actually a cause of collisions, then that suggests when a senior or vision and hearing impaired person is hit or killed by a driver that it is the pedestrians fault. This kind of messaging is wrong and harmful to road safety overall, but there is no strong message from the government defending vulnerable road users from that kind of messaging.

Lastly, although I expect this would be outside the scope of this, I would like to see mandatory re-training of drivers. There have been a few changes to the Highway Traffic Act in the past ten years since I got my license, but I've never been required to demonstrate my knowledge (ex. 1m passing for cyclists; pedestrian crossover rules, etc).

Drivers should be required to pass a written exam every ten years to renew their license. Drivers who are convicted of careless driving charges should lose their license and only be able to get it back by going through the graduated licensing system again. Drivers who are convicted of careless driving causing death should lose their license for life.

Thank you.

[Original Comment ID: 212777]