West End Boy
Active Member
Here's the Toronto Public Health report from a year ago.
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2015/hl/bgrd/backgroundfile-81601.pdf
"On average, there were 2074 pedestrians and 1097 cyclists who were injured or died as a result of a collision with a motor vehicle per year in Toronto between 2008 and 2012."
The report does not state what the accident rates per km are for pedestrians and bikes, but since the number of pedestrians is far greater than the number of cyclists, I think we can easily conclude that bicycling is more dangerous even though there are more pedestrian accidents than bike accidents. Looking at the census and seeing what % ride bikes to work versus driving, walking and TTC is a good indicator.
I have a hard time believing that bicycling is a safe method of transportation. Also I am tired of seeing bikes ride on the sidewalk and narrowly avoiding hitting me while I am walking and I am tired of seeing bicyclists go through red lights and stop signs. I realize that there are lot of bad drivers but bicyclists seem to break road rules far more than other road users (particularly biking on the sidewalk). I am mostly a TTC user and pedestrian and don't own a car (though I do use car sharing occasionally).
The quote from this study seems to suggest that motor vehicles are the cause of the injuries and deaths, no? Gasp! So I guess they should be completely banned, to keep us safe.
Too many cyclists on the sidewalk? How about a protected bike lane? That will definitely increase the number of cyclists who are comfortable enough to ride on the road. In fact, if we put a protected bike lane on every major street, presto, cyclists will have no valid reason to ride on the sidewalks there.
Not that many cyclists in Toronto you say? How about we take the percentage of people cycling (10% in the area of this pilot, according to the studies mentioned) and we only allot that same percentage of the paved surfaces (roads, parking lots, alleys, etc.) for that group in that area? So 10% of the surface area for cyclists in the west downtown. Sounds great eh? Should be enough room for protected cycle lanes on every major thoroughfare, bike parking corrals, etc.