Nearly 70 per cent want cycle track to remain
TORONTO — Cycle Toronto and the David Suzuki Foundation today launched “Keeping our children safe”, a major campaign to protect kids’ safety by retaining bicycle lanes along Bloor Street.
The initiative includes placing large advertisements in subway stations with the heading, “7 in 10 Toronto residents say keep the Bloor bike lanes… including us!” The ads show a young family whose children are posing with their bicycles and helmets.
The campaign also features a “Students for Bloor” bike ride and a door-to-door canvass to collect signatures on a pro-bike lane petition.
It represents the largest undertaking so far to build support for the Bloor bike lane.
“We have two key messages,” says Cycle Toronto executive director Jared Kolb. “Bike lanes keep our kids safe and the vast majority of Torontonians support the Bloor bike lane.”
The Bloor lane is only a pilot project. City council will decide this fall whether to make it permanent or remove it. Recent polling from the Angus Reid Forum found 69 per cent of Toronto residents want the Bloor lane to remain in place.
“Right across the city there’s majority support for keeping the Bloor bike lane,” says Gideon Forman of the David Suzuki Foundation. “And it’s not just downtown. Even in North York, support for the Bloor lane is at 69 per cent.”
The Bloor lane has received support from many groups, including local businesses, Olympic athletes and physicians. Doctors point to substantial research suggesting protected bike lanes reduce road injuries and enhance public safety.
A December 2016 paper in the American Journal of Public Health concluded that bike-network expansion is associated with a decrease in cyclists’ crashes, fatalities and severe injuries.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jared Kolb, Executive Director, Cycle Toronto 416-729-9023
Gideon Forman, Transportation Policy Analyst, David Suzuki Foundation 647-703-5957
30