They Save Lives
There were a couple of articles in the Toronto Star this morning discussing how Doug Ford is planning to go forward with removing the Toronto bike lanes, even though Toronto does not support it, and it clearly falls outside his purview as provincial premier.
I am sure that many people have some reaction, positive or negative, when they hear about this, but for me it is personal. It always throws me back about thirty years, and causes my heart to break just a bit.
I hadn’t been out of university long, and was working as a counsellor at an uptown group home. My closest friend in the city, who I will call John, was working in a downtown home for the same company, and had suggested I apply.
I came in to work one day to all of the staff gathered together and chattering. Had I heard? One of the staff from the downtown house was dead! No, they didn’t know who or how, but the boss had gotten a phone call, so it was true.
This was, of course, in the days before cell phones and the internet, so I didn’t learn any more until I got home. It was a long day.
As soon as I hit home, I called John’s number. All day my brain had been saying “there is a lot of staff down there, he is young and healthy, it can’t be him” on repeat. That stopped abruptly when a woman answered the phone. John was gay, and lived with his partner. A strange woman never answered the phone. Still, trying to sound calm, I asked to speak to John. There was silence, and then she asked who I was. She must have recognized my name, because she told me what happened.
John, who lived as well as worked downtown, had ridden his bike to work that morning. At that time there were no bike lanes, and bike riders had to take their chances among the cars. John had been hit by a truck. He died instantly. He was 32 years old. His body would be flown home to his family in New Brunswick for the funeral.
I managed to complete the call, though I don’t remember what else was said. I don’t remember much for the next couple of days, except that sometimes I would take a huge, gulping breath, and realize I had not been breathing properly.
Over the next few weeks I found that I was not able to ride my own bike on the road any longer. I ended up giving it away, and didn’t get another one until after bike lanes went in.
People still die riding bikes in Toronto. The last year for which I could find statistics was 2024: according to the court transcripts, all six of the deaths that year were on streets without bike lanes.
As Toronto grows, and adds e-bikes and e-scooters to our common modes of transportation, we need more bike lanes, not fewer. One unnecessary death is too many. Believe me, I know.
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