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Dufferin Street: Eliminating the jog

The argument is that drivers have to check for traffic no matter what (bike or car), while passengers often don't look because there is no oncoming vehicle traffic on their side. I'd be curious to know, statistically, what side has more incidents of dooring? Anecdotally, I've nearly been doored twice, and both times were between the car and the curb with a passenger exiting their vehicle.
I would gently push back on the idea that drivers know or remember to check for bikes when opening their door. I don't have any stats at hand, but anecdotally I've heard many stories of driver-side dooring. There is a private member's bill to teach the Dutch Reach during driver training, though even if it passes, there will of course be many drivers who learned years ago and aren't familiar with it for decades to come. And of course most cars also have a passenger door on the driver's side, so it's entirely possible to be doored by a clueless passenger on either side.

All of which is just to say that it's never safe to force people on bikes into the door zone, no matter whether they're on the road side or the curb side.
 
I've heard many stories of driver-side dooring
No doubt, I agree with you here, I was merely articulating the argument being made -- That they are more likely to check due to the fear of being hit by a car than a passenger who assumes safety. Wether thats true or not I don't know. I would be curious to see what the stats are.

I would hypothesize that there are more dooring incidents on the driver side in raw numbers, but I would be curious if it happens at a higher percentage on the other side. Agreed that this is kind of a moot point and that bikes shouldn't have to be in the door zone in the first place.
 
Probably not going to find a lot of buy in from retailers to overhaul their transport fleet though.

Apparently the city/transport companies are looking at options?
 
Probably not going to find a lot of buy in from retailers to overhaul their transport fleet though.
It is pretty standard that retailers need to use smaller equipment to deliver to many parts of Toronto.
 
It is pretty standard that retailers need to use smaller equipment to deliver to many parts of Toronto.
Yup. Most suburban retailers are serviced by full size 53ft trailers, while downtown they use smaller 20ft trucks. That's because it's almost literally impossible to navigate the inner city in a 53ft truck though. I've seen those trucks try to make turns downtown a few times before and they have to block the whole intersection to do it and it takes a solid minute or two to do it. Doesn't work.
 
When this underpass opened, both sides of the tunnel were lined with likely 100 LED lamps. It was actually pretty ridiculous how many were installed. Even with only half of them turned on, it was like staring into the sun, and it remained that way for years. In the last couple of months however I've noticed that only a tiny amount remain lit, perhaps less than 10 on each side, making it quite dark. Is this another classic case of city hall spending big money to build infrastructure and then pretending it doesn't exist? They've let the artwork adorning the walls go to hell too.
 
Wasn't the rational that the light levels were set to mimic the levels outside so drivers eyes didn't have to adjust as much?

That is exactly the case.

More lights are turned on during the day to help prevent drivers eyes from having to adjust to the change. It is also supposed to account for cloudy/overcast days, as I understand it.

Dan
 
When this underpass opened, both sides of the tunnel were lined with likely 100 LED lamps. It was actually pretty ridiculous how many were installed. Even with only half of them turned on, it was like staring into the sun, and it remained that way for years. In the last couple of months however I've noticed that only a tiny amount remain lit, perhaps less than 10 on each side, making it quite dark. Is this another classic case of city hall spending big money to build infrastructure and then pretending it doesn't exist? They've let the artwork adorning the walls go to hell too.
Did you try reporting this to 311 or the Toronto Hydro Steetlighting website? (https://www.torontohydro.com/for-home/report-a-streetlight-out ) Lights under bridges tend to be a CITY responsibility but ......
 
I haven't, no. Diffusion of responsibility and all that.
While I realise that neither the City nor Hydro may actually DO something, if you report this apparent problem to them, if you think that the lighting is a problem and actually want it fixed, it makes little sense to tell UTers about it as we are certainly not going to fix things.
 
Jun 13, 2021

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@#$@ me!

Bring me the project manager!

Bring me the designer/L.A. !

The trial begins now!

FFS..........corten steel on the stairs? Really?

That stain on the concrete at the bottom..........do people not understand how this works?, really?

The grass at the top is an unmaintained weedbox.

The grass at the bottom has been beaten into non-existence.

That's my @#$# money, going down the toilet!

In three parts.......

1) The Corten...........there are other choices that are easily recognizable to the visually impaired, and which vary in texture and are non-slip. Many forms of granite are excellent for this.....

Just no!

2) The weedbox at the top...........I'm fine w/low-maintenance spaces. Though, no maintenance rarely works out.

But plant something aggressive that will give a uniform appearance and put up w/the stresses of the site.

3) The beaten to the death grass at the bottom.........

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credit to @Red Mars

This is not hard..........look at the line from one staircase to the next.........what is the most efficient route..............right..........duh!

Also...too small a space for grass to be durable unless it's protected and irrigated.

It is certainly not the former and doesn't appear to be the latter.

Wrong treatment!
 
The Peel-Gladstone re-do is now out to tender:

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This project was scheduled to be done this fall; due to the delay in getting it tendered, it is now scheduled for spring 2023.
 

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