CTV, the (somewhat more right leaning than the CBC) Canadian broadcaster appears to have a hate on for vehicles in a recent spot they did. You can see the onside BS on their video of bike lanes.
This video makes me angry for so many reasons.
Here we see the old out of shape white guy, wearing jeans and an poorly tucked in shirt, sitting at the side of a road, waiting for a bike to come buy. The fact that there are no bikes, clearly indicates that that this bike lane is a waste of money.
Now I'm not sure exactly where this is, but it's not a core downtown street. It's closer to mid-day it looks like, so there won't be many people commuting, and, there's no f'ing cars either.
Now he may actually be right, and this lane is a waste of money being in the middle of nowhere. But the whole video is basically just a one-sided opinion piece of a person who wants to increase the number of cars on the road.
A bit later in the video, while commenting on their lack of use, Tom Hayes shows us the true value of Bike Lanes. They are great for parking in illegally! We see two intrepid bicyclists, wearing their helmets, having to go out into traffic to get around some Ford SUV.
If those bike lanes weren't there the driver of the SUV would have had to walk, probably causing a heart attack, thereby increasing costs to the heath care system.
It soon follows that bikes are dangerous weapons, that kill without warning.
Unfortunately a woman was killed by a 11 or 12 year old riding a bike on a sidewalk. It's a very sad thing, but the video sensationalizes her death and lets the user assume that this happens all the time.
Soon we get a brief snippet of something strange. While talking about how it's crazy that more bike lanes are being added, we see a bike lane in use! By Bikes! And we see 10-15 bikes locked up along side the road. We see cars on that road!
Could it be that having bike lanes on roads where people want to go is a good idea?
Then, to finish it all up, we see Tom Hayes, back standing on the same back road, not a bike, car or bus to be seen, telling us that we can expect even more wasteful bike lanes from City Hall.
Clearly Tom Hayes is the worst reporter in the world.
But don't blame him. He's just giving the people what they want. Here's my favorite comments from his online poll that shows that 64% of people don't like bike lanes. I guess that his report rallied car drivers from around the city to speak up. I think they need to take back the road and hold a day of action.
I'm sad that people think these things.
Jon
This is a perfect illustration of the disconnect between the ultra liberal elite snobs in city hall and the common citizen. The politicians push an environmental agenda past the point of ridiculousness only to be proven wrong by the public. NO ONE USES THE LANES. We need more lanes for cars, more parking and MORE FREEWAYS! Stop the insanity already!
Bob in Scarborough
Seems to me, Miller & his cronies are working to ban car traffic in this city, period. If it's not another tax on drivers, it's something else to create more congestion, on our already congested roads. Your story on the 6 0'clock news hit the nail on the head. I can't recall EVER seeing a bike in a bike lane, just lines of cars moving at a snail's pace, due to lack driving lanes...
bob
My car was hit by a cyclist riding on a sidewalk. He came down the hill and I was at a stop sign, He hit me and it cost me $900 for repairs. He claimed he had no money. He also said he couldn't stop because he had no brakes either. He did mention that I shouldn't have been at the stop sign.
Petrina Jarvis
I think if they are going to create lanes just for cyclist then they should be charging these people taxes on the purchase of their bikes, not to mention the fact that they should be licensed and registered in order to have them on the road.
patricia
Bicylists are reckless. They sure enjoy the freedom of lawlessness. They think they have avoided running over me and the tall wheels are not guilty of touching my clothings on the side walk, in subway train, inside elevator. Bikes should only be allowed in suburban residential area and should be banned entirely inside city.
Well this argument is likely going to be going on for some time. My 2 cents on this is that we need to put bike lanes where cyclists want to go, not on roads where it's easy to cut out a car lane because there is no traffic there. Few cyclist are going to add to their route to take a bike lane down a street full of stop signs, just like a car driver won't.
I think I'll go out and kick a car. My '96 Subaru might just feel the pain!
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