General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

[andrewpmk]

http://torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/34641

A bicyclist got seriously injured at Jarvis & Carlton yesterday. Jarvis Street was closed for an extended period of time.

These sorts of serious accidents happen far too frequently in Toronto. My guess is that someone (either the car or the bike) went through a red light, so I can't see how keeping the Jarvis bike lanes would have made any difference here.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

http://torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/34641

A bicyclist got seriously injured at Jarvis & Carlton yesterday. Jarvis Street was closed for an extended period of time.

These sorts of serious accidents happen far too frequently in Toronto. My guess is that someone (either the car or the bike) went through a red light, so I can't see how keeping the Jarvis bike lanes would have made any difference here.

5 pedestrians got hit a few days ago - ergo, having sidewalks are dangerous and wouldn't make a difference here.

AoD

 

[ADRM]

Right—cherrypicking individual instances of pedestrian or cyclist deaths or injuries and identifying specific aspects of each circumstance as evidence of the futility of particular pieces of infrastructure is plainly illogical.

The fact is that Toronto has woefully inadequate cycling infrastructure, which shouldn't be at all surprising given that it is chronically underfunded by our retrograde Council, and that fact has a real, serious, deleterious impact on the health and safety of our city.

 

[PinkLucy]

5 pedestrians got hit a few days ago - ergo, having sidewalks are dangerous and wouldn't make a difference here.

AoD

Similarly, there was a bad crash between two cars at Bathurst & Harbord today. Obviously, roads are dangerous, because car collisions happen far too frequently. I'm not sure how having car traffic downtown is a good idea.

 

[the lemur]

http://torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/34641

A bicyclist got seriously injured at Jarvis & Carlton yesterday. Jarvis Street was closed for an extended period of time.

These sorts of serious accidents happen far too frequently in Toronto. My guess is that someone (either the car or the bike) went through a red light, so I can't see how keeping the Jarvis bike lanes would have made any difference here.

Your guess is just that - a guess. We don't know who was on which street or travelling in which direction, so bringing up the hypothetical Jarvis bike lane (which was unprotected, so would have done nothing to prevent any bike/car collision anyway) is just another big stinky red herring from McKinnon's Trollfishing Shop.

 

[the lemur]

Similarly, there was a bad crash between two cars at Bathurst & Harbord today. Obviously, roads are dangerous, because car collisions happen far too frequently. I'm not sure how having car traffic downtown is a good idea.

And a car hit a house near Jane & Humberside (I think) a few days ago and again just now at College & Palmerston. It's clear that cars and houses don't mix and that houses are fundamentally unsafe. I for one refuse to be inside a house that is near a road and will restrict myself to being up in trees and in wide open fields.

 

[salsa]

I'm seriously baffled by this. How the hell did this happen?

 

[the lemur]

I'm seriously baffled by this. How the hell did this happen?

View attachment 74259

From what someone told me at the scene, the driver of the black car (Mercedes) was speeding west on Harbord as the silver Honda was turning east. In an effort to avoid a collision, the driver swerved onto the sidewalk and clipped the bottom of the light pole, causing the car to rotate into the store window. A garbage/recycling bin was destroyed and apparently a third vehicle, a minivan, was clipped as well, ending up just north of the intersection.

 

[nfitz]

It is hard to see how it ended up moving backwards at such a velocity to go through the window, and become wedged between the store and the pole.

Especially with so much damage from the driver's side front corner ...

I guess it must have hit the pole from the left, and then pivoted around the pole somehow!

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From what someone told me at the scene, the driver of the black car (Mercedes) was speeding west on Harbord as the silver Honda was turning east. In an effort to avoid a collision, the driver swerved onto the sidewalk and clipped the bottom of the light pole, causing the car to rotate into the store window. A garbage/recycling bin was destroyed and apparently a third vehicle, a minivan, was clipped as well, ending up just north of the intersection.

Reaction is one thing, you've got to wonder about the wisdom of swerving to avoid a collision - and end up going onto the sidewalk. You are protected by your vehicles - pedestrians aren't protected by anything.

AoD

 

[W. K. Lis]

And a car hit a house near Jane & Humberside (I think) a few days ago and again just now at College & Palmerston. It's clear that cars and houses don't mix and that houses are fundamentally unsafe. I for one refuse to be inside a house that is near a road and will restrict myself to being up in trees and in wide open fields.

Maybe you better rephrase that.

 

[West End Boy]

http://torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/34641

A bicyclist got seriously injured at Jarvis & Carlton yesterday. Jarvis Street was closed for an extended period of time.

These sorts of serious accidents happen far too frequently in Toronto. My guess is that someone (either the car or the bike) went through a red light, so I can't see how keeping the Jarvis bike lanes would have made any difference here.

You continue to prove my point. That is the most twisted and self-serving logic. A cyclist was seriously injured, therefore bike lanes are unnecessary? I would love to write you off as troll, but sadly this is the state of things in Toronto.

 

[the lemur]

Reaction is one thing, you've got to wonder about the wisdom of swerving to avoid a collision - and end up going onto the sidewalk. You are protected by your vehicles - pedestrians aren't protected by anything.

AoD

I subsequently heard that not only was the driver trying to avoid hitting the Honda, he had just collided or nearly collided with a car pulling a U-turn (dumb idea on a major street but the onus is on the driver performing it to do it safely) at Harbord & Brunswick. Which is some distance away, suggesting that he was really speeding and massively overcorrected, ending up on the wrong side.

 

[the lemur]

Maybe you better rephrase that.

If someone can launch a Reliant Rialto into a tree, then we are truly not safe anywhere.

 

[andrewpmk]

You continue to prove my point. That is the most twisted and self-serving logic. A cyclist was seriously injured, therefore bike lanes are unnecessary? I would love to write you off as troll, but sadly this is the state of things in Toronto.

The point is that this type of accident can't possibly be prevented by bike lanes. I don't know the details but the accident on Jarvis sounds like a right-angle collision where someone must have gone through a red light. The laws of physics are such that if a bike (or pedestrian) is hit by a car, the bicyclist or pedestrian will get seriously hurt and the driver will walk away.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2670789/cyclist-in-serious-condition-after-being-struck-in-west-toronto/ And there was another bike accident today near Dufferin & Bloor.

I think that the only thing that is going to prevent all these serious bike accidents is for people to stop riding bikes, and for city council to stop encouraging people to ride bikes. There have been a lot of accidents on College St and other roads with bike lanes.

Keep in mind that statistically riding a bike in Toronto is far more dangerous than being a pedestrian or driving a car. I know that serious car accidents happen all the time as do pedestrian accidents, but driving or walking are still a lot safer than riding a bike simply because the number of people who drive or walk are orders of magnitude higher.