All cyclists welcome:Meet for a group ride to the crash site at 6:15 pm, Bloor & Spadina, and at 7:00 pm, Danforth & Pape, to ride to Eglinton and Leslie for 7:30 pm, Monday, September 18, 2006.
A ghost bike will be installed on site by ARC members in memory of the fallen cyclist.
(ARC Press release added - read the comments)
5 comments:
For Immediate Release
On September 11, 2006, a 47-year-old male cyclist was killed near the
intersection of Eglinton Avenue and Leslie Street. Eight years after the regional coroner's report recommended rear side guards on large trucks, the last five cyclist fatalities in Toronto have all involved a collision with a large truck. Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists (ARC) asks how much longer will all three levels of government
continue to ignore basic safety for cyclists on our streets?
ARC marks these deaths on our roads with a memorial because those dying are our fellow cyclists. It could happen to anyone, it could happen to any one of us. It doesn't matter if the cyclist is at fault, rich or famous, what matters is that a cyclist has died. ARC will hold a public memorial at 7:30pm, Monday September 18, at the site of the crash.
Anyone who rides a bicycle is vulnerable, but straightforward ways
to improve the conditions for Toronto's cyclists were identified by the Toronto Regional Coroner in a landmark study of cyclist fatalities, issued in 1998. That study specifically flagged the dangers to cyclists, pedestrians and small vehicles caused by the high truck beds and openings between front and rear wheels of large trucks. It made a number of recommendations that have since been ignored by our transportation decision-makers. Of particularly tragic relevance is the recommendation that the trucking industry in Ontario be mandated to equip large trucks with European-style "wheel guards."
ARC is once again raising its voice about wheel guards on large trucks. Which of our mayoral aspirants will put themselves on the line and demand that the trucking industry conform to safety standards
considered "normal" in most of Europe?
(This crash was in the ward of mayoral aspirant Jane Pitfield).
All cyclists welcome: Meet for a group ride to the crash site at 6:15 pm, Bloor and Spadina, and at 7:00 pm, Danforth and Pape, to ride to Eglinton and Leslie for 7:30 pm,
Monday, September 18, 2006
Shame I have hockey tonight. I would have gone to this just to see how many cyclists will show up for this.
My experience so far with groups like ARC, CBN and other "downtown" cycling groups is that the inner suburbs are a nuisance/menance and they are bleeding money out of the Bike Plan by uselessly (their words, not mine) building bike lanes in the inner suburbs that rightly (their words, not mine) should be getting built downtown.
Once upon a time I signed petitions, and wrote to councillors and did other things to lobby for downtown cycling infrastructure because I thought that by helping downtown cyclists to get what they needed, they would return the favour and help cyclists in the inner suburbs.
I changed my mind after one too many downtown cyclists looked down their nose at me because I live and cycle to and from Don Mills.
I'm betting that no one, other than the organizer(s), shows up to this because they don't want to risk the nose bleed they might get by going north of Bloor Street.
Bitter. You bet.
Hello bitter - it's a shame that I have to cancel out of a Toronto Cycling Cttee meeting to go to this memorial; they're really not fun and yes, they can be well removed from the core.
Yes of course you have a point about the core-centric nature of biking and Toronto politricks, but if you look at the numbers of what's being done where and how much it's going to cost, maybe 12% of the proposed on-road stuff and maybe 2% of the off-road is in the older core. This 2% is quite costly, it's the railtrail, and I'd be happier to trade it for the taketheTooker and use leftovers for other bike stuff and the corridor for transit, if we could do transit.
Please feel free to keep bitching but it helps not to hide, but hey, it's comment.
And how about a "thanks" to the folks who organize this stuff eh? Is it their job? Is it frolic and fun?
Hamish
Hmm 15 mostly downtown cyclists braved this so called nose bleed to attend the memorial - which was an excellent turnout considering the rain. I don't think its at all a suburb vs downtown thing when people turn up and when they don't, but of course people are practical and memorials that are further from where they live are harder to attend.
ARC's proposal for bike lanes in Toronto can be found here"
http://www.tino.ca/thefuture.pdf
I live downtown now but grew up
in Agincourt. Nothing would please
me more than more bike lanes in the
subsurbs. Really.
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