6 hours Ago
, Nov.14 If the lanes are removed, cyclists will understandably use the sidewalks for their own safety — and cause danger to pedestrians. There’s no way to know how many near misses there are, but perhaps someone is counting bike-pedestrian collisions.
It must cost the province a lot to patch people up in emergency wards after accidents. Is it too much to hope that Premier Doug Ford would, for a change, follow scientific data instead of his gut instinct on transit plans? Where is the respect for Toronto’s developed network of bicycle lanes? Ensuring that the Eglinton subway line is completed should be more important than eliminating bike lanes or building tunnels. Focusing on highways that will only encourage more automobile congestion is yesterday’s playbook.
Former Conservative leader Mike Harris was also unable to visualize the future when he filled in the Eglinton subway which similarly put Toronto’s transit planning back many years. The Star’s reporting on bike lanes has been accompanied by several different pictures. What they have in common is the almost complete lack of bicycles and an endless line of cars.
Rush hour traffic with literally two or three bicycles commandeering an entire extra lane. Designing East/West and North/South routes for bike travel on secondary streets seems more reasonable than dedicated lanes on major arteries. Common sense says it’s better to add travel time to a few cyclists than it is to inconvenience thousands of daily commuters.
I do not understand Premier Doug Ford’s focus on eliminating certain bike lanes in Toronto. Surely that is a municipal matter. Ford has enough issues to deal with at Queen’s Park without interfering in Toronto’s business.
There is no evidence to support his claim that removal of bike lanes will ease traffic congestion, and it would be an expensive undertaking. Ford is a supposed conservative, but he does not show conservatism in his spending priorities. In any case he should stay in his own lane and leave Toronto to its elected officials.
Remove the bike lanes and this is what occurs: When drivers have two lanes, there are those who zip by, at great speed along the curb lane until a parked car blocks their lane or maybe a bike rider is in the way. Then they push their way into the line of patient, civilized drivers in the centre lane. This happened the other day as I drove easterly from west of the Humber River towards the Bloor and Jane intersection where a long line of cars waited patiently starting at the bridge.
The traffic lights seem to change their rhythm to shorter intervals and all the traffic changed to moving along smoothly. It’s not the bike lanes that slow traffic — they keep the bike riders safe and car drivers in line. A much simpler and likely less expensive solution would be to synchronize traffic lights to traffic conditions.
Nov. 13 Displacing people already displaced with nowhere to call home is another illustration of how little leaders care about homelessness. For a concert? Leave them alone.
They are suffering enough already. Decades of pro Big Business politics have put far too many decent people on the street. Why, when business build their products in countries with low wages, are they permitted to charge exorbitant prices far above their actual cost? Wage controls have been implemented regularly.
Why not price controls? This is the reason for the ever-widening gap between prices and wages. Those we elect are supposed to prevent this type exploitation. Instead, they encourage it.
It is time those responsible be held accountable for the damage they have caused to our economy and for all the human beings they continue to hurt. I sometimes drive my daughter to an 8.30 a.
m. class at Centennial College and want to give a shout out to some civil servants who are very visible at that time of day. Crossing guards are at every street corner near our schools, and as well as being safety beacons for our youngsters, they seem to interact with them nicely and give a positive start to the day.
Public money well spent I’d say. I write in response to Omar Mosleh’s informed and insightful article comparing the ease of getting approval for MAiD in Canada with the difficulty of getting approval for psilocybin therapy for end-of-life distress. Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, should not be treated as if it is less safe than death.
Hundreds of scientific studies have shown psilocybin therapy is both safe and highly effective under the supervised care of trained health-care professionals. The Psychedelic Association of Canada (PAC) concurs and supports Mr. Mosleh’s analysis.
The PAC educates the public and government officials about the safety, benefits and science behind psychedelic therapies. As Mosleh pointed out, there are many challenges, delays and uncertainties in applying for medical exemptions to legally receive psilocybin therapy. This results in many Canadians travelling to jurisdictions where psilocybin can be legally accessed or seeking treatments in gray markets.
Those are expensive and sometimes uncertain options. We know the government does not intend that patients should have to choose between their health and adhering to the law. We encourage more educational and informative stories like this one and active discussions with government to increase access to these medicines for those who need it most.
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