vic's blog

The media is reporting that prosecutor Richard Peck has dropped criminal charges against Michael Bryant, who was charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, after the incident that left Darcy Allan Sheppard dead.

Richard Peck felt there was no reasonable chance of convicting Bryant.

Quote from The Star:

If the prosecution determines there is no reasonable prospect of conviction then the charge must be withdrawn, Peck told the judge in front of a courtroom packed with reporters.

“This case falls short of that standard and I’ll explain why,” the lawyer said.

He added the decision was his “mine and mine alone” and no one from Attorney General’s office had any input into the decision-making process.

I'm wondering if there will be other non-criminal charges pursued after this.

Personally, I'm still trying to make sense of this...

Media coverage:

• Toronto Star
• National Post
• CBC
• Toronto Sun

West Toronto Railpath: Bridge over Dupont St., and Art Starts mural

Today's Globe & Mail has an article about the possible future extension of the West Toronto Railpath.

A few quotes from the article:

A completed trail “would be amazing,” said Daniel Egan, manager of the city’s cycling infrastructure and programs. “What’s in place now doesn’t really go anywhere, but you can get a sense of what’s possible. ... You don’t need much imagination to understand how important it could be.”

But the completion of the trail into downtown is likely several years off, and still faces significant design and construction hurdles.

But if it is to become more than just a recreational trail, and open up a new commuting route for cyclists, the southern portion of the trail down to King and Strachan needs to be completed. That depends on whether room can be carved out alongside the rail corridor that is being expanded to provide more frequent GO train service and a rail link to the airport.

Metrolinx, the government agency planning the GO expansion, says it will try to make room for the railpath alongside its tracks. The city is willing to pick up the tab for construction costs, and will accommodate the trail on adjacent land or streets in the sections where it can’t be accommodated on rail land. And the grassroots group Friends of West Toronto Railpath, which pushed for years to get the path under way, is lobbying hard and helping with the design of the extended path.

On Saturday February 21 2010, Scott Torrance, the landscape architect behind the design and implementation of the West Toronto Railpath led a walking tour of this wonderful new public space. The walking tour was hosted by the Lost Rivers Committee, Toronto Field Naturalists and the Toronto Green Community.

During this walking tour, Scott Torrance described various aspects of the history, design, and implementation of the Railpath. He provided a great insight into some of the choices made about how the path was landscaped, the materials used, the plant life, and more. I didn't attend this walk, but fortunately someone brought a video camera!

The first video posted here (above) is the short 3-minute summary. If you want to see the whole thing, it's broken up into 3 parts below.

There's more info about Scott Torrance's work on his website, and you can also watch these video on his Youtube channel.

Interested in another walking tour of the Railpath? This Saturday, May 1, there will be a Jane's Walk on the Railpath. It's not hosted by Scott Torrence, but rather by some knowledgeable locals. Check it out if you want to learn more about the current state of the Railpath, and plans for future south/east expansion.

Proposed Lansdowne Bike Lane: Bloor St. to Davenport Rd.

As part of the Bike Plan, the City of Toronto is proposing the installation of bike lanes on Lansdowne Ave. between Bloor St. and Davenport Rd. This 1.5km stretch of new bike lane might not seem like much, but it will end up being a key connection between the Davenport Rd. bike lanes, Dupont St. / Annette St. bike lanes, and Lansdowne Ave. sharrows (black squiggles on the map). These all lead into other significant pieces of local cycling infrastructure such as the West Toronto Railpath (green line on map) and parts of the proposed West End Bikeways.

There will be a public meeting about this proposed bike lane on Thursday:

Thursday March 25, 2010
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Wallace Emerson Community Centre
1260 Dufferin - Ambrico Room

In the recent past, there was some significant opposition to the narrowing of Lansdowne Ave. south of Bloor St., so there may be some community opposition to the installation of these bike lanes. It would be extremely helpful if cyclists, especially locals, came to this public meeting to show their support.

The approval and installation phases of this looks like it may happen rather quickly:

Following this consultation, City Staff will review any comments received. We plan to submit this project for consideration to Public Work and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) meeting on April 20, 2010. We anticipate the Lansdowne Avenue bike lane project will be considered by City council on May 11-13, 2010. If approved, bike lanes on Lansdowne Avenue are planned to be installed in summer 2010.

If you can't make it to the consultation, be sure to the following addresses with letters of support and comments: bikeplan@toronto.ca, councillor_giambrone@toronto.ca, pwic@toronto.ca

More information about this public consultation can be found at:
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/public-consultations/lansdowne.htm

The map is the City of Toronto's 2009 Bike Map, with some additions made with my own mad graphix skillz

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.