As I rode my bike along Bloor Street, I gave thanks for the concrete bollards and “please don’t kill me” barriers that separate my fleshy bits from the cars that sped by.
asserted
that → ride → cars
There were no bike lanes when I was a kid, flying down Bathurst on my Canadian Tire five-speed, invulnerable to the prospect of death, like all teenagers.
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I → be → teenagers
In those days, cars were gods, to be feared and worshipped.
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cars → fear → days
The Spadina Expressway very nearly ripped through my backyard.
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Expressway → rip → backyard
Dads would make jokes about how many points they got for hitting pedestrians when they drove you home from babysitting, usually after a bottle of wine.
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they → make → wine
It was, as they say, a different time.
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they → say → ?
But I grew up, and so did the city.
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city → grow → ?
An astonishing idea took hold: Maybe the streets should be shared with those who walk, cycle, use wheelchairs, and push strollers.
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who → take → strollers
When the city installed bike lanes on Bloor, I started to cycle along a road I’d long avoided.
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I → instal → road
I’m attached to my limbs, and I’d prefer they remain attached to me.
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they → attach → me
We’re about to lose a bunch of those bike lanes, thanks to Doug Ford’s government and its cynical encouragement of a win-lose conflict between drivers and cyclists.
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We → lose → drivers
(Many of us are both, and as a driver, I actually appreciate bike lanes.)
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I → appreciate → lanes
We paid millions for the city to install the lanes, and now we’ll be on the hook for millions to rip them out.
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we → pay → them
Who knows?
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Who → know → ?
I keep hearing there’s a malaise fuelling the upcoming municipal election, a sense that the city is headed in the wrong direction.
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city → hear → direction
And yet we fail to identify the source of the rot: A provincial government that has razed half of Ontario Place, given us a Temu Science Centre, and made our streets demonstrably less safe.
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streets → fail → Centre
The destruction of bike lanes is bad enough, but the province’s removal of speed cameras — against the wishes of municipalities — has truly made life worse for the vast proportion of us who are not Lewis Hamilton.
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who → make → us
In the words of a Bloomberg news analysis, “‘Outlawing Ontario’s speed safety cameras has triggered an explosion of urban speeding.
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Outlawing → outlaw → speeding
In June, the city released figures that showed speeding had shot up after the removal of the cameras at a rate Mayor Olivia Chow called “horrifying.”
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Chow → release → rate
On the notorious stretch of Parkside Drive where vandals repeatedly chopped down the cameras, the number of cars going more than 20 kilometres above the speed limit increased by more than 500 per cent after the province took the cameras away.
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province → chop → cameras
I fear these statistics are theoretical when we’re strapped in, intent on gaining that all-important 10-second advantage over the guy in the next lane.
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we → fear → lane
Until it’s your kid who gets hit, or your parent.
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who → ’ → ?
The number of traffic fatalities in Toronto increased almost 30 per cent in the first six months of this year compared to 2025.
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number → increase → 2025
Already 36 people have died on our streets this year and 134 were seriously injured, which is alarmingly far from the promise of Vision Zero.
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which → die → Vision
One family who experienced the worst possible outcome is fighting back.
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who → experience → outcome
The family of a 15-year-old boy who suffered devastating injuries after being hit by a car on a stretch of road that once had a speed camera is suing the city, the driver, and the province.
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that → suffer → city
“The suit alleges that the province knew the danger of removing the speed cameras but was negligent in taking no steps to add additional safety measures,” according to a report in the Star.
uncertain
province → allege → Star
How much safer would our streets be if speed cameras were reinstalled?
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cameras → reinstall → ?
We have academic studies analyzing the benefits, and the city of Mississauga released a helpful graphic noting that “speed cameras have proven to reduce speeds an average of 9 km/h, increasing the level of safety in the process.”
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cameras → have → process
But the provincial government won’t release its own studies related to speed cameras, since they’re covered by the blanket secrecy law it passed this earlier this year.
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it → release → this
We all want the city to be a more pleasant place to live.
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city → want → ?
But maybe we should take it up with the folks at Queen’s Park.
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we → take → Park
Ride down there soon, though, because the bike lanes are about to disappear.
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lanes → ride → ?
The Aporia
