A Ray of Hope at City Hall?

Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows, as the 19th century American journalist Charles Dudley Warner once wrote.

For example: I wouldn't have voted for former Ontario premier Mike Harris if there were a gun to my head.

But he once told me personally that I was responsible for getting him elected, because the main plank in his campaign platform was the elimination of photo radar which I had exposed in Wheels as the sham and scam that it was.

Now he's Chairman of Magna Corporation, and I'm still bashing away at my little computer for a couple hundred bucks a week...

Likewise, I wouldn't have voted for Toronto mayor Rob Ford if there were a gun to my head.

Not just because I don't live within the boundaries of the city of Toronto.

Nor that it might have been considered a conflict of interest, given my beat. (I still wouldn't have voted for him if his name had been "Mercedes B. M. W. Porsche".)

But here's the thing about politicians you generally disagree with:

When they're right, they're right.

Harris was right about photo radar.

If not much else.

And Ford is right about bike lanes.

Yesterday, there were reports that he was going to eliminate the stupid bike lanes on Jarvis Street. He did oppose them in his campaign.

Today, he says those reports were 'rumours', and that while he still doesn't think they make sense - when he's right, he's right - he doesn't have an immediate plan to eliminate them.

Okay then, when he's only half-right, he's still half-right. With politicians, you are thankful for small victories.

Instead, he'd prefer to see bike lanes that are separated from motorized traffic by some form of physical barrier.

Thus the lanes would not only impede traffic to a lesser degree, they would be vastly safer for the cyclists too.

This is consistent with the City's plan to complete the north-south bike path which exists now only in part, largely on abandoned railroad rights-of-way.

This way, the millions of dollars spent thereon would merely be a colossal misallocation of taxpayers' money lavished on a vanishingly small percentage of citizens, instead of also reflecting a cavalier disregard for the safety of that handful of people.

Moving up the governmental scale, is there a chance that Prime Minister Stephen Harper might be right about something?

Maybe if he would invite me up to Ottawa to give a smack upside the heads of some of those Transport Canada folks.

Otherwise?

Not a chance.

Comments

[Ted Andkilde]

As a car guy and a bike guy I have reservations about separating bikes from traffic. Lots of empirical evidence shows the majority of car/bike accidents happen where traffic crosses and merges which is why we don't allow bikes on sidewalks and bikes are (should be?) treated like cars (ticketing for red-light running and lane splitting). I'm not familiar with the traffic patterns of Jarvis though, so I may be talking out of my hat.

Cheers, Ted

[Adam Gorley]

"a vanishingly small percentage of citizens"?

If you believe that then you have no credibility as a journalist.

[Larry]

So if there are physically separated bike lanes you'll abandon some of your arguments directed at cyclists that it's not safe, there isn't room, there aren't enough of them to warrant the infrastructure, the weather's not right and the rest of your excuses? Interesting.

By the way, the railpath trail is great, except that occasionally someone does try to drive on it.