Memorial Ride for a 24-year-old Cyclist on Bloor

Unfortunately, Toronto’s cycling community had to gather tonight for the fifth time this year to pay their respects for a fallen cyclist. The latest victim was a 24-year-old female who was struck and killed on Bloor Street east of Avenue Road. While I wrote about the initial death and how to address some of the design fails at this site and others across the city, it was essential to write about tonight’s memorial ride.

By the time Helen, Mozzie, and I got to Matt Cohen Park, the park and sidewalk was already packed with people.

Addressing Bike Lane Obstruction Risks

As you probably already know, a 24-year-old female cyclist was killed on Bloor Street east of Avenue Road last Thursday; making it a record-breaking five cyclists killed this year so far. A likely cause of death was the placement of a construction bin at the end of the bike lane which forced the cyclist to exit the bike lane early to get around before being hit and killed. Since then, there have been a fair number of reports of motor vehicles blocking bike lanes which prompted me to write about how we can address such bike lane blocking risks.

A blocked bike lane on Davenport at Bartlett on Saturday, July 27

A Call to Action for Scarborough

All right, folks! We need to talk about Scarborough’s dangerous streets.

On Sunday, February 11, a memorial ride was held for a 66-year-old female cyclist killed at Brimley & McNicoll. If that wasn’t bad enough, another crash in Scarborough this month killed a 47-year-old male cyclist on Monday near Birchmount & St. Clair. While it didn’t happen right on Birchmount – which had bike lanes removed in 2011 – the consequences of refusing to build safe streets still apply across Scarborough. Finally, despite the Danforth-Kingston complete street being part of the 2022-24 Bike Plan, there still has not been a public consultation held which had been delayed due in part to last year’s by-elections for Mayor and for Council in Scarborough Southwest.

Memorial ride held at Brimley & McNicoll on Sunday, February 11

Bill 40 at Queen’s Park

Today marked the first time I visited Queen’s Park in more than 20 years to witness the debate for MPP Joel Harden’s Bill 40 (a.k.a. Moving Ontarians Safely Act). This is the latest attempt in a decade to enact legislation to hold drivers accountable when they kill or seriously injure vulnerable road users such as pedestrians or cyclists. Ahead of this bill, MPP Harden biked from Ottawa to Toronto to hear about road safety concerns from residents along the way. You can read Jun’s blog post about the Safety Ride here, while I wrote a previous piece about the bill and other measures we need to fight for at Queen’s Park.

2023 Toronto Ride of Silence

Yesterday marked the 21st Annual Ride of Silence in which cyclists around the world paid their respects to those who have been killed by road violence. 19 people took part in the Toronto ride which started 7:00 PM at Bloor and Spadina and ended at the Peace Garden next to Toronto City Hall with stops at two ghost bikes along the way.

Road Safety and the Green New Deal

Aside from Toronto’s snail pace of bike lane and public transit installation, one thing that has become incredibly frustrating for me is the lack of global climate action despite the Kyoto (1997) and Paris (2015) agreements. At a time the world’s leading scientists urged people to reduce greenhouse emissions in half by 2030 to avoid catastrophic climate change, they elect folks such as Donald Trump in the United States and Doug Ford in Ontario who are doing the opposite. Something that has gotten me worried about this fall’s federal election. The good news is millions of youth – inspired by Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg – have had enough and held school strikes urging world leaders to treat climate change as an emergency. American politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared a need for a Green New Deal; something recently introduced in Canada as the next step to the Leap Manifesto.

Stopping Toronto's Kindermoord (Child Murder)

Toronto city council will be debating REimagining Yonge tomorrow and the latest turn of events has left me outraged. Mayor John Tory – along with the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) – have gone against staff which recommended the “Transform Yonge” option reducing Yonge Street in North York from six lanes to four while adding protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and an improved public realm. Instead, he is calling for bike lanes to be moved to Beecroft Road which would cost an additional $20 million and do nothing to improve the safety of Yonge Street which people will still use regardless of transportation mode. His main reason – of course – is his foolish refusal to accept anything that would make traffic congestion worse. A repeat of the Gardiner East fiasco?

Let's Talk Road Violence

Despite Toronto city council approving the “Vision Zero” road safety plan in 2016 aimed to eliminate traffic fatalities, road violence has gotten worse. 2017 saw a record number of vulnerable road user deaths at 46 and the first fifteen days of 2018 saw five pedestrians killed. To help humanize the road safety issue, I spoke with Jess Spieker who survived a collision when riding a bicycle in May 2015 and volunteers with Friends and Families for Safe Streets.