Tay Caton

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Cycling advocates warn there will be more angry drivers this winter

GuelphToday

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You’d be surprised, data from the city of Toronto has shown that around 20% of summer cycling volumes continue throughout the winter. There are other studies online that are claiming even higher percentages. 20% is still substantial, given the amount of cyclists we see in the summer. That number is also inclined to rise if people have safe cycling infrastructure such as plowed bike lanes. There are other implications which also make the investment worthwhile and necessary, such as people with mobility devices who need to use the bike lane (as Taylor mentioned in this article), accessibility for transit, and for residents who live on streets with bike lanes now being required to do extra shoveling because they suddenly have a longer stretch of unplowed snow at the end of their driveway.

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Cycling advocates warn there will be more angry drivers this winter

GuelphToday

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@Reasonable Person - you’re right, it is different, in the sense that they have much better year-round cycling infrastructure and actually plow their bike lanes so the 20% of people who continue to cycle in the winter can do that more safely. @Diane Limebeer actually no, that’s not how the law works. I encourage you to read the Highway Traffic Act, or at least the part that talks about cyclists being able to take the full lane when they deem it is necessary (for example when our council chooses to not plow bike lanes).

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Cycling advocates warn there will be more angry drivers this winter

GuelphToday

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Bike lanes were very much a thing 2 years ago. I encourage you to leave Guelph every now and then. There’s a lot more world out there.

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Council votes to speed up renoviction bylaw for Guelph

GuelphToday

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This is immensely positive news for current and future renters in Guelph. This bylaw will help keep people in their homes by preventing bad-faith renovictions which are loopholes around rent control. Kudos to all who advocated, including the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County, Guelph & Wellington Poverty Elimination, Get Involved! Guelph, and The Ward Residents Association.

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Cycling advocates warn there will be more angry drivers this winter

GuelphToday

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Bollards statistically reduce the number of accidents, but also the severity of injuries if an accident does happen. You said it yourself, an accident at 60km/h is much different than one at 20km/h. I don’t know about you, but personally I’d rather have a broken arm than die.

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Cycling advocates warn there will be more angry drivers this winter

GuelphToday

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In the old days more people could actually afford a car.

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Guelph's city council votes to elect respect

GuelphToday

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As important as this is, what’s more important is properly defining “harassment.” Your constituents expressing outrage over your displacement of unhoused constituents through the hastily passed Public Space Use Bylaw, or expressing the urgency of forthcoming motions around renovictions and a vacant home tax is NOT harassment. It’s accountability, which is desperately needed for policymakers in all levels of government.

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A budget fought on the margins has no good decisions

GuelphToday

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What I disagree with is your insinuation that the bike lane debate is about “enjoying winter cycling” or an act of “environmental idealism.” People generally bike in the winter because they NEED to, not to make some political or ideological statement. People will bike regardless, it’s just a matter of whether they will be safe(r) with bike lanes, or if they will be blocking traffic by taking the full lane as they are within their rights (and now forced) to do in accordance with the HTA. That benefits nobody, not even drivers.

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A budget fought on the margins has no good decisions

GuelphToday

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@Rounabout They were still revenue-positive. The point wasn’t to be a cash grab, it was to increase safety. For example, Brampton decided to leave their cameras on, without ticketing people (per the provincial backtracking) and found that speeding has more than doubled since Ford’s cancellation of the program:https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/brampton-councillor-says-speeding-has-increased-since-speed-camera-ticketing-stopped/The other day, a pedestrian in Toronto got hit by a car directly beside the recently decommissioned speed camera:https://torontolife.com/city/a-pedestrian-was-hit-by-a-car-on-parkside-drive-last-night/Despite popular belief, it was never a cash grab. It was to reduce injuries, protect pedestrians, and save lives.

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A budget fought on the margins has no good decisions

GuelphToday

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@Albein the bus doesn’t go everywhere people need it to, either entirely or without inconvenient routes and transfers which require more time than people have. I have had destinations where Google Maps told me it would take the same amount of time to walk as it would to take Guelph Transit.This decision also impacts the accessibility of Guelph’s busses: if a bike lane isn’t plowed, the bus is often unable to stop directly along the curb which prevents those who use mobility devices, for example, from entering. I’ve noticed the same people who use mobility devices sometimes also travel in the bike lane, in case you have any doubt surrounding the connection between these modes of transportation and their levels of accessibility.

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A budget fought on the margins has no good decisions

GuelphToday

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@JohnFC I don’t understand your point. People can (and do) speed during and after turning on the roadway. There’s a reason that ASE camera was situated directly after the turn. If they were driving in a way that resulted in hitting a pedestrian without being able to stop in time, there’s a high likelihood they were speeding.

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Cycling advocates warn there will be more angry drivers this winter

GuelphToday

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As Andrea said in the article, “Winter cycling is only ‘unsafe’ when the city chooses not to maintain safe conditions.”

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Scottsdale neighbours say concrete bike lane separators are a 'nightmare'

GuelphToday

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Vehicles repeatedly running into these concrete barriers isn’t a reason for them to be removed. It’s a justification of why they’re there in the first place: to protect cyclists from bad drivers.

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A budget fought on the margins has no good decisions

GuelphToday

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@Two Riverss Well said. Cycling and transit advocacy are 2 sides of the same coin.

Cycling advocates warn there will be more angry drivers this winter

GuelphToday

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@Reasonable Person - Have you been to larger cities? There’s around 3.11 million vehicles registered in Toronto, one of the largest cities in North America. You can have a car there. Many people choose not to, can’t afford to, or rely on other forms of transportation like the subway, walking, or yes even cycling since there are more bike lanes which get plowed in the winter. You can have a car though, there’s over 3 million of them.

Council votes to speed up renoviction bylaw for Guelph

GuelphToday

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I question how this would affect “small landlords,” unless those landlords are renovicting their tenants involuntarily and without cause for the sole purpose of circumventing rent control. If they act in good faith, they won’t be impacted. Renovictions are generally carried out through large-scale or corporate landlords, including the “king of renovictions” Michael Klein who was behind the Brant Ave renoviction notices here in Guelph. Klein is connected to 20+ buildings across Ontario, holding approximately 680 units which have been impacted by his renoviction tactics. (source: ACORN Tenant Union)