"Bicycle Safety" at Public Works and Infrastructure Committee - Sep 14

As identified in earlier TCAT News, the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) is considering two "Bicycle Safety" motions at next week's meerting. The first motion is to enact a bylaw to mandate that all cyclists wear helmets (PW26.4) and the second is to develop a cyclist licensing program (PW26.5). The full agenda can be viewed here.

The safety of our most vulnerable road users – cyclists and pedestrians – is of critical importance and we would like to thank Councillor Walker for bringing this issue to the attention of the committee. Each year on Toronto’s streets between 1998 and 2007, on average 1,055 cyclists were injured and 3 killed and 2,242 pedestrians injured and 35 killed. The safety of cyclists and pedestrians is clearly an urgent issue to be addressed by City Council. However, it is TCAT’s position that these recommendations should NOT be adopted.

We don't need to reinvent the wheel to figure out the best way to address bicycle safety. Not only have excellent academic papers been published and research conducted but over 40 years of first-hand evidence from European cities have shown the world the best ways to safely accommodate an ever-increasing numbers of bicycles.

Toronto has been recognized as a North American leader for being the first jurisdiction to undertake a comprehensive coroner's report to identify the causes of cycling accidents and fatalities in order to improve the safety of cyclists. The Regional Coroner’s Report on Cycling Fatalities in Toronto (1998) was a groundbreaking document, but very little has been done to implement its recommendations. Helmet legislation and licensing were notably NOT amongst the 15 recommendations to address bicycle safety.

TCAT calls on City Council to:
- implement all recommendations from the Coroner's report that fall under the city's jurisdiction
- advocate for action on the Coroner's report recommendations that apply to the Federal and Provincial Governments and report annually to the Toronto Cycling Committee on progress made.

To read TCAT's full submission, click here.

If you would like to address the committee, either in person or in writing, please contact Candy Davidovits, Committee Administrator at cdavidov@toronto.ca or 416-392-8032 by Friday, September 11th at 12:00 noon.