vic's blog

I'm sad to report that another cyclist has been killed on the streets on Mississauga. From the few details provided by the police and media, it sounds like the cyclist was riding westbound on Bloor St. at Riverspray Cres. (Between Tomken and Dixie), when he was struck from behind by two motor vehicles.

Still not too many details available, but Peel Regional Police are looking for more witnesses. Here's the text from the Police press release:

Peel Police - Motor Vehicle Collision – Cyclist Struck
November 25, 2009

Mississauga – Investigators from the Peel Regional Police Major Collision Bureau are appealing for witnesses to come forward, as they investigate the circumstances surrounding a motor vehicle collision that has claimed the life of a Mississauga man.

The following email comes from Patrick Brown, a cyclist-supporting lawyer here in Toronto. Could cyclists be getting screwed over with insurance settlements in the future? Read on.

This morning I attended a stakeholders meeting with the Ministry of Finance regarding the new changes to auto insurance. It is now on the news.

The present law reform is not fair to cyclists, public transit users or pedestrians.

Today I specially asked whether the reduce benefits being proposed will apply to innocently injured cyclists, pedestrians and transit users. The answer was "yes".

The system here in Ontario is complex to say the least, but I will try to simplify as best I can the issue below.

When anyone [including cyclist, pedestrian car driver] is injured or killed by a bad driver[ even a drunk driver], they will have various benefits available to them. These include various things to help them get better. Medical benefits, rehab benefits, attendant care etc.

With the new changes introduced today, many benefits are being drastically reduced. However, the justification for such a reduction is "consumer choice".

The new insurance reforms provide an option to the auto insurance policy holders to increase the amount of their benefits if they so chose. They simply up the premium in the policy.

However, if you are a cyclist, pedestrian or transit user, and do not have a car insurance policy, you do not have the ability to buy up on your benefits. You have no policy to do so. You must accept these reductions.

Essentially your benefits (if you are part of this group) have just been drastically reduced without the choice of getting more coverage.

How significant are these changes to cyclist and pedestrians. The following are the amount of benefits being reduced.

1. Medical Rehabilitation Benefits [non catastrophically injured] are being reduced from 100,000 to 50,000
2. Attendant Care Benefits [for non catastrophically injured ] are being reduced from 72,000 to 36,000.00
3. Housekeeping and caregiver benefits eliminated.

According to this Toronto Police news release, two cyclists collided on the trail near Bayview Ave. and Pottery Road, resulting in the death of an 84 year old man.

Police request assistance with bicycle−on−bicycle collision
Broadcast time: 17:35
Thursday, October 22, 2009

Traffic Services
416−808−1900

On Tuesday, October 20, 2009, at 11:43 p.m., police responded to a call for a bicycle−on−bicycle collision, in the Bayview Avenue/Pottery Road area.

It is reported that:

• an 84–year−old man was riding southbound on a bicycle path, just south of Pottery Road, adjacent to Bayview Avenue,
• the man was descending a hill when his shoulder struck the shoulder of a 61−year−old man riding his bike,
• the 84−year−old man, who was wearing a helmet, fell to the ground and struck his head,

He was taken to hospital with life−threatening injuries and later died.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416−808−1900, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637).

Constable Isabelle Cotton, Public Information, for Constable Hugh Smith, Traffic Services

If you haven't been through the railway underpass next to the Dundas St. West and Dupont St. intersection in West Toronto recently, you have been missing out on some incredible changes! The streetscape has evolved tremendously in the past couple of months: The West Toronto Railpath linear park and trail is now open, there are bicycle lanes on Dupont St., and a brand new mural dedicated to bicycle culture has been painted along the entire 400 foot south wall.

Talk about a major transformation! Standing next to the railway bridges, you can see all these sights come together into a single place where a formerly desolate bike- and pedestrian-unfriendly area has been completely transformed. Just stand there and look at the bright colours, watch people walk by above you on the Railpath, watch cyclists stream by on the Dupont St. bike lanes, and listen to people as they talk about the new mural. Beautiful!

The mural, titled Strength in Numbers, was installed by a group of artists from Art Starts, an organization that helps build Toronto communities by using the arts. Funding for these murals came from the City of Toronto's Graffiti Transformation Investment Program, as well as the Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council. Lead artists Joshua Barndt and Jamie Bradbury, along with five youth artists painted the murals over four weeks in July and August 2009.

I interviewed lead artist Jamie Bradbury, who provided some insight about the mural:

Why did you choose to do a cycling-themed mural? Why this location?

The cycling theme was chosen as a starting point for the mural initially as we started the mural due to two main reasons. The west Toronto bike path being built above, we felt that biking as an issue was an umbrella for many other issues such as sustainability, eco-friendly cities, green space, alternative transportation. An artist and avid cyclist named Galen was also killed 5 years ago right at this location, and it was somewhat of an homage to him.

From the Bike Train website:

We are excited to announce a new pilot project that introduces twice daily Bike Train service between Montreal and Toronto offering bike racks onboard. The pilot will run from August 24 to October 8 allowing cyclists to take the train with their bikes - no box or disassembly required!

Awesome! This is something that Justin and the Bike Train crew have been working towards ever since it was just an idea. If this keeps up, I can imagine all VIA trains accepting bikes, and not just a few special "bike trains".

A few more details from the announcement email:

Two trains in each direction per day, initially being offered for direct Montreal and Toronto passengers only. In the coming weeks, additional stops en route may be added.

There will be 6 bike racks available on each train. Although Bike Train staff will not be onboard the train, a host of information on the destination cities can be found on the new Bike Train website www.biketrain.ca/montrealtoronto

* $109 each way, including passenger ticket, bike transport, and all taxes and fees.
* Twice daily service in each direction (one train in each direction on weekends)
* Tickets must be bought through the Bike Train website.

Annette St.: All plugged up
A few days ago, the Toronto Star's fixer got excited about getting the Annette St. "No Stopping" signs added next to the new bike lanes. Cyclists everywhere rejoiced, and all was good.

However, upon further inspection, not all of Annette Street's signs have been updated, so in many sections motorists still feel they have the right to park in the bike lanes. And although other sections of Annette St. have the proper signage installed, motorists continue to park wherever they darn well feel like it.

Ah, but we have parking enforcement officers! They will help!

To be honest, I lost my faith in the police and parking enforcement when it comes to enforcing bike lane parking violations a long time ago. I have seen PEOs and police officers cruise right past bike lane parkers without blinking. I have even spoken directly to officers and pointed out illegal bike lane parkers, but they usually come up with excuses for the motorist.

So, as a final nail in the coffin, I present you with these photos of a City of Toronto Parking Enforcement vehicle parked in....you guessed it....the bike lane. The officer was not in the vehicle, nor anywhere that I could see on the street. It looks like the officer was probably popping in to one of the local businesses for a quick breakfast or coffee, while blocking a lane of traffic.

Massive bike-eating pothole on Dundas St.

I have noticed this series of potholes on Dundas St., eastbound just west of Prince Edward Dr. (map) growing bigger over the last few weeks. The potholes are long and somewhat narrow, parallel to the roadway and probably about 1.5m from the curb.

Riding eastbound on Dundas St. towards the Humber River, there is usually a fairly high amount of traffic, plus the downhill grade of the road really allows cyclists, and motorists, to pick up speed. A momentary loss of attention or movement to avoid another hazard could cause a cyclist's front wheel to drop into this chasm leading to a terrible over-the-handlebars kind of crash, or just a mangled wheel and fork if you're lucky.

The Star's "Fixer" column earlier this week got very quick results with the bike-crash causing pothole on Dupont St. I want to see how quickly the City responds to a request from a regular schmoe like me who doesn't have media credentials.

Rush Hour: 5:45pm at Bloor and Forest View, Etobicoke

Bike lanes on Bloor St. may be more likely to happen than you think. Possibly even sooner than expected. I was at the Bloor Street West and The West Mall Bike Lanes public consultation last night, and can report back that it it's mostly good news for cyclists.

Two new bike lanes were being presented at this meeting: A 3.1km stretch of The West Mall, from Bloor St. down to The Queensway (map), and a 3.4km piece of Bloor St. W. between Mill Rd. and Kipling Ave (map).

One of the points that several residents at last night's meeting kept bringing up went along the lines of, "But these lanes don't take you anywhere!". Well, contrary to popular belief, I feel that these lanes will actually fill in a much-needed gap in the network, providing safer cycling in mid-town and south-western Etobicoke.