By Staff
November 24th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Safe Streets Halton, alongside BurlingtonGreen, Halton Hills Climate Action, Oakville Green, and Halton Environmental Network have released an open letter in response to the province’s upcoming restrictions on bike lanes.
“This legislation does not address the traffic safety issues that Halton residents face, with at least 10 deaths and over a thousand injuries occurring in the past year alone,” remarked Nick Morrison, President of Safe Streets Halton.
The letter comes as Bill 212 approaches its third reading in the legislature. Amendments were recently made restricting the public’s ability to sue the province for injury after removal of existing bicycle lanes.
“It comes with a requirement [that data shows] the removal of a lane will not cause delays in traffic, how does one do that in advance of installing a bike lane?” Councillor Jane Fogal questioned at a recent Halton Hills council meeting where the town approved a motion opposing the legislation. She cited a pilot project in Ottawa, where bike lanes were installed temporarily and vehicle travel times improved, making way for making a permanent change.
The City of Burlington has also passed their own motion opposing Bill 212. “We would have a lot more people cycling if it were safer, and bike lanes are a big part of that.” Councillor Rory Nisan commented. “We can figure this out on our own.”
In the letter, the province is urged to reconsider these restrictions and focus on improving traffic safety for all road users in Halton Region. Safe Streets Halton calls on Halton Region residents and businesses to visit safestreetshalton.ca/SaferStreetsOntario, sign the petition and contact their MPP.
Contact points:
About Safe Streets Halton
Safe Streets Halton is a grass-roots organization on a mission to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries in Halton, Ontario.
What are the statistics of bicycles in accidents who failed to stop at a red light or stop sign? Who moronically squeezed between a truck and the curb to get closer to the light, only to find out the truck was turning etc.
It’s quite easy to manipulate statistics to suit your argument but when it comes to bike lanes there is too little use and when it comes to bicycles too much abuse of the rules.
Graham,
If they had the guts to publish the puny utilization rates there would be a public outcry to stop the runaway spending. Full disclosure at 70 I ride my bike about 75 km a week for pleasure on bike paths eight months of the year.
Ted
Safe bike lanes in Halton Region is an oxymoron.
In Burlington we have bicycle lanes that disappear. I particularly like the bright green ones that simply end in the middle of a traffic lane. The installation of bicycle lanes came about by making the car lanes smaller. Doing this has become an accident waiting to happen.
In order not to cause an accident,in some cases, means having to pull out of our lane to avoid hitting the cyclist. This is dangerous for both the cyclist and the driver of the car. What is even worse are the “sharrows”. Let’s share the already small lanes .
Council in Burlington seems to feel that they are doing something “green” by supporting bicycle lanes. The reality is that developers have jumped on the bandwagon. New developments propose 285 spaces for bicycles and not that much more in car parking for a condominium with over 20 stories.
How many people do you see riding their bicycles in the winter to go shopping?
How many times have you seen snow ploughs pushing the snow to the curbs?
Remember the movie line “ if you build it they will come”- this will not hold true with residents of Burlington adopting cycling as their daily mode of transportation.
We live in Canada where we have winter and in our area many seniors. Better public transit is the answer not bicycle lanes.
It would be helpful if the public had data on bike lane utilization rates before jumping to conclusions.