I was told not to record (even audio), however, I dismissed the permit claims and did it anyway. There was a notice on the window about video/photography being used (none were present), assuming it was from a previous event that staff forgot to remove.
As for the noise from the belt clip, I cannot clean that up, I used my phone's audio recording function, when I could've just used my other device and placed it on the floor or kept it in shirt pocket.
Arrived half an hour late due to a TTC delay (subway was quicker to get up to finch) and the walk to the library, so missed the introductions.
As for the noise from the belt clip, I cannot clean that up, I used my phone's audio recording function, when I could've just used my other device and placed it on the floor or kept it in shirt pocket.
Arrived half an hour late due to a TTC delay (subway was quicker to get up to finch) and the walk to the library, so missed the introductions.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00:00Strode is when you try to make up streets where people are living on and going to work on and doing business on and living on, with the high-speed nature of a road that people get hit and killed.
00:00:12So the two types of roads need to be different.
00:00:30Does that make sense to me?
00:00:43Do you have any other questions?
00:00:46So Jeff, just for context, here we are in North York, and we have the longest region in Canada at the Forum.
00:00:54It's a drone up here, right?
00:00:56So, for example, if you get out on the east side of the subway and you want to come to the library, you either, if you're like, by crossing, which I've explained to the traffic, or you can have to go a little wrong thing on the ground.
00:01:16Wonderful. Thank you so much for defining that.
00:01:18I think that it's clear that the two concepts kind of show together.
00:01:23So I'll ask the next question, and we'll start with Jeff this time.
00:01:27So what got you started in advocacy, activism in general?
00:01:32And what inspired you to work on this specific topic?
00:01:36Well, I didn't spare a single second about the routine before.
00:01:40I just wrote my life everywhere, and I was like, I'm in a second.
00:01:45And I don't think I'm writing seriously for like three years, because I broke up with my long-term boyfriend at the time, and I was like, I'm free!
00:01:52What else can I do that's going to make me feel I'm going to go to the place?
00:01:55I don't know, I'm going to write a place.
00:01:57So I did that pretty much, and we're going to write it.
00:01:59And then that sent me down the rabbit hole, from which I would probably never remember.
00:02:04I don't know how I was going to run the same streets, because we also run a peer support meeting at the time.
00:02:10We're not therapists or anything, but it's extremely helpful because there are other people that share your experiences,
00:02:17because being a victim of real violence or losing a family member to real violence is a very, very isolating and difficult experience
00:02:24that is very different from other ways of being injured or losing a loved one, because of the sudden nature of it,
00:02:30because of the unspeakable injustice that you're subjected to, because we have very pathetic laws, which I will come to.
00:02:39So the driver who does this to you, who's at fault, gets a minor slap on the wrist, if anything, maybe a small bind if you're lucky.
00:02:46And so it's very, very difficult to experience this.
00:02:49You're also pressed into an insurance battle to get coverage for your injuries and your losses,
00:02:54and that is a hostile adversarial system, which if you think you're paying your car insurance premiums to get help when you need it,
00:03:01they will do everything they possibly can to avoid helping you, and it's very traumatic to go through all these experiences.
00:03:07So I got involved because I started going to the peer support meetings because I was enraged and really struggling,
00:03:13and I found it very helpful, and then from there I just kind of worked my way into the leadership,
00:03:20and now I'm the chair of the group.
00:03:22And I'm very, very grateful for everything that Friends and Families for Safe Streets has helped me with,
00:03:27and the sense of purpose that it's given me because I don't have, I feel like at this point in my life,
00:03:33I don't have a lot left to contribute after my injuries, but one thing, like the most positive way that I can make my mark on the world
00:03:40is to work with this group and make sure that what happened to us, what happened to me, never happens to anyone else again.
00:03:50Yeah, I can remember, there are two specific instances.
00:03:53One was I remember seeing a little flyer at a local environmental store, and it said,
00:03:59imagine a Lord Danforth bike lane across town, and I thought, yeah, I can imagine.
00:04:05It sounds like a great idea, and that was in 2006.
00:04:08And I also remember talking to people about it, and they would say, that sounds really nice,
00:04:12like even sympathetic people would realize it sounds really nice, but that's not realistic.
00:04:17And I thought, not realistic, so what do people consider reality?
00:04:22It's like air pollution, death on the roads, climate change, all of those things.
00:04:27So that really motivated me to get involved.
00:04:30I've been, as I mentioned, environmental work for a number of years, but sort of that community advocacy.
00:04:35So I thought, well, let's do, and there was a group that's doing small sort of rides on Floor Street.
00:04:40I thought, let's do a really big ride. Let's do a parade.
00:04:43And it was all about, like you mentioned the word, I think, of doomsaying.
00:04:46We said, no, let's show people how fun it could be.
00:04:49Let's show them a glimpse of what our city could look like with bike lanes on Floor Street.
00:04:54And there was just so much enthusiasm.
00:04:57People came out, and specifically we called it Bells on Floor.
00:05:00We didn't want to call it Death on Floor or something like that.
00:05:02We called it Bells on Floor to be fun, like reflection, kind of that joy of cycling.
00:05:07You know, the first year, hundreds of people in this, you know, by the third year,
00:05:11we had a couple of thousand people coming up for the ride.
00:05:14But there was still lots more work to be done.
00:05:16It was still, you know, it wasn't just, City Hall wasn't going to be convinced.
00:05:20Just because it was nice, we needed a lot more work to be done.
00:05:23And I think part of your question as well, sort of in the notes, was,
00:05:26how do you get involved?
00:05:28Like, what's the best way to get involved?
00:05:29And for us, initially, we thought, okay, floor Danforth.
00:05:33And it turned out that was probably too ambitious.
00:05:35We said, let's just focus on a pilot, a short stretch by the university, by the museum,
00:05:40where there are hundreds of restaurants and so on, sort of a bite size.
00:05:44And in terms of, you know, people here getting involved, I'd say, you know,
00:05:47that's a really good kind of concept.
00:05:50But some people say, I want to change the world.
00:05:53Well, that's a big undertaking.
00:05:55How about just, you know, getting a stop sign on your street,
00:05:58getting the speed limits returned.
00:05:59Those are bite-sized things to get involved.
00:06:02And for me, you know, just the bike lane involved.
00:06:05So many different things you needed to do.
00:06:07But start small.
00:06:08Because if we all work on our little corner of the world,
00:06:11then we will change the world.
00:06:13But if you want to change the world, let us know how that goes.
00:06:20I sort of got, restarted riding my bike around 2006.
00:06:25I was, I had just gotten into the university.
00:06:28I was going to grad school.
00:06:29It was before the subway.
00:06:30And I lived in Parkdale all the time.
00:06:33And was like, like taking the bus and the subway up.
00:06:40And it was very long to go up there.
00:06:44Frustratingly long.
00:06:46You know, traffic was bad.
00:06:47Even at the time, yes, traffic's not a new thing.
00:06:49Toronto as well, remember.
00:06:51And then a friend of our friends said that, oh, like, and, you know,
00:06:54I wasn't a very big person.
00:06:56But a friend of a friend of mine said, like, oh, yeah, I went to York.
00:06:59And I used to ride there.
00:07:00And I kind of looked at them and was like, you, you rode there?
00:07:03What is that?
00:07:04Like 15 kilometers?
00:07:05Nobody can ride 15 kilometers.
00:07:06That's impossible.
00:07:07And so I figured I'm a stubborn person.
00:07:09So I decided I was going to start doing this.
00:07:11And, you know, it wasn't safe.
00:07:15And, you know, you're being passed by a fast car and trying to find routes,
00:07:19snake entry subdivisions.
00:07:20But it was still faster than taking transit.
00:07:23And by the time I got to my destination, you know, I felt pretty good.
00:07:26Like, I felt, you know, you know, heart was pumping, pulse was going.
00:07:31I felt ready to learn.
00:07:32And kind of this kind of, like, light bulb moment of like, oh, yeah,
00:07:36you can actually ride, like, through Toronto.
00:07:38But you shouldn't have to be half crazy grad student to do it.
00:07:43You know, I joined Central Toronto in 2010 as a member.
00:07:46Back at the time it was when our then mayor was ripping out bike lanes on Jarvis.
00:07:52And, you know, thought this was, like, obviously appalling.
00:07:55And so, you know, put down my membership of, like, 20 or 30 bucks at the time.
00:07:59And joined that way.
00:08:00And kind of stayed involved in the cycling advocacy space that way
00:08:04until joining the organization in 2020, just ahead of the pandemic.
00:08:09And just to note on that, I actually first came on the organization on a parental leave contract.
00:08:14So that executive director was going, you know, having her first kid, was going on parental leave.
00:08:19And, um, this operational plan.
00:08:24Like, okay, here's what we're hoping to do this year.
00:08:27We're hoping to extend the Bloor bike lane a little bit further west from Shaw to Runnyman.
00:08:31That's what we're hoping to do.
00:08:33We get that done.
00:08:34You know, like, we'll have it done.
00:08:36It's like, okay, this sounds good.
00:08:38I can't mess this up. It's fine.
00:08:39Of course, there's a global pandemic.
00:08:42And, of course, a lot of terrible downside to it as well.
00:08:46But it did really kind of change how, like, a lot of people re-remembered that ice can really be a tool for urban transportation.
00:08:54And so I think that just sort of really inspired me as well as part of this.
00:08:58And just being convinced.
00:08:59And just kind of, yeah, the coalition here, like, kind of, running a lightning wave,
00:09:08you know, a lot of issues were going on.
00:09:10Especially in your building.
00:09:12So, my, uh, cycling overseas journey, uh, began in 2013.
00:09:20So, I've ridden, I've lived in London, England, and New York, and France, and I fight everywhere.
00:09:25Um, and in areas where, quite frankly, I'm surprised I didn't get killed or hit.
00:09:30But, fast forward to Toronto.
00:09:33Um, after experiencing a couple of really unpleasant experiences with police early in the morning on my way to the gym.
00:09:39Witnessing a woman getting hit.
00:09:41And then, you know, calling her in the court case for two years.
00:09:45And watching the, uh, the driver who literally hit her and, and rode off.
00:09:50And if I hadn't chased them, you know, we wouldn't have even gone through the court.
00:09:54And so, in 2013, I was working for the provincial government for an office of the assembly.
00:10:00And I was learning about, and I was taking a part on how to be an equitable, um, watchdog.
00:10:06Right?
00:10:07To, to, to keep the government accountable for ensuring that the laws that they, that they put in place,
00:10:15the legislature are enforced and are recognized, you know, on the, on the ground.
00:10:21And as a cyclist, I was feeling really frustrated because, you know, there were so many angry drivers.
00:10:28I was also stressed out by a lot of the other cyclists.
00:10:31I don't look like a typical cyclist at the time.
00:10:33I go to work wearing high heels and dresses.
00:10:36And I would sometimes get mocked by other cyclists.
00:10:39And, and I found myself getting angry and frustrated.
00:10:43And I thought, no, I'm, I'm a positive, happy person.
00:10:46I love biking.
00:10:47I want to be part of this change.
00:10:50And so, I've been a member of Psycho Toronto for about, I think, two years.
00:10:54And that actually was the year that I started reaching out to see how I could get involved to turn a negative into a positive.
00:11:02And honestly, it's been a, a catalyst for, for so much.
00:11:06And it's been so wonderful to see how, you know, through advocacy, you know, spreading the joy of educating people and bringing people along that really between 2013 and today, even though there are still challenges, which you'll hear about, that really there's never been a better time to fight in Toronto.
00:11:27Um, you know, bike share, even if you look on your Google Maps, the next time you can get somewhere, you can take a look at how long it's going to take to get somewhere.
00:11:36And increasingly, it's faster if you bike.
00:11:40So, I think that's a really good thing.
00:11:41Wonderful.
00:11:42Thank you so much for sharing.
00:11:43Um, I will ask the next question, um, which is, um, what information and facts do you wish more people were aware of about the street safety for cyclists and pedestrians as well?
00:11:59Um, sort of the different impacts of different infrastructure.
00:12:03So, the roads, street, um, policy, and anything like that.
00:12:08Um, and, and you can include some Toronto focused examples if you like.
00:12:14Yeah, what we're fighting for in, uh, Toronto as in many other cities is, is a system of walking, cycling, and transit.
00:12:22I mean, that's sort of the, that's the alternate to a car-based world that we have.
00:12:27So, as I would say, in terms of, you know, one thing I want people to know, and that's kind of what motivated, part of the motivation of writing that book, how did we get to where we are?
00:12:36Like, you look at the 401, say, it's like 18 lanes wide, right?
00:12:40And you think, how did we get there?
00:12:42What were the decisions that we made to say, well, that would be a really good idea to add a couple more lanes or to tunnel under the 401?
00:12:50Um, but, so, the key point is that, and the key part of the learning is that, the reason we adopted cars wasn't because it was a superior technology.
00:12:59In fact, we had superior technologies, when you look back and you were thinking, we had a lot of bicycles, and we had a lot of people walking with good city planning.
00:13:11The reason cars were adopted, initially people got, well, it's like a nice novel thing, a car, and they went to auto shows and things, but they didn't buy them because they didn't really understand the point.
00:13:22If you wanted to travel somewhere, you had all these options.
00:13:25You could buy street cars, you might go to the other city, you could take the train, you could take your bike, you have great options.
00:13:30And this is actually what we're trying to get back to today, walk, cycle, transit.
00:13:34But what was, what convinced people was just good marketing, right?
00:13:38I mean, the car makers had a lot of money, they convinced people, not that it was useful, they convinced people that it would elevate your prestige.
00:13:45You'd be in a higher, you'd magically be in this higher economic class.
00:13:49And if you don't think that's a powerful tool to sell things, think of pickups today.
00:13:54I mean, how many people here think you're more rugged, more adventurous, more macho if you buy a pickup?
00:14:02Well, if you watch the ads, you're probably convinced because that's such a huge seller right now.
00:14:06But it's the same thing with cars. We convinced that you weren't putting your hand up, right?
00:14:10We convinced people that they should have cars because it made them better people.
00:14:15So the point is, when today we look at around ourselves, and we're always convinced all we have to have cars is on.
00:14:21We don't. I mean, it's actually, the technology isn't screwing.
00:14:25And 1.2 million people are killed every year because of cars.
00:14:30You know, the climate change impacts are horrible.
00:14:33Noise, air food, fitness, all of these things.
00:14:36So that's one thing I want you to take away. Cars are not your reasons. It's superior to technology.
00:14:41We have them. They're everywhere. But that doesn't make it a superior technology.
00:14:45It just means we have to fight a bit harder against it.
00:14:52One of the things that I kind of think about a lot, some of this comes out of thinking about the aftermath of,
00:14:59the way talking about bikes really changed in Toronto is the way I was hearing about it was,
00:15:06this kind of shift away from talk around road safety and talking about cycling as part of public health.
00:15:12And in a lot of ways, I think that's a really powerful idea because, you know, I think we all want to make sure that people are killed on our streets.
00:15:20We all want to make sure we're able to get to where we're going in a safe and convenient way.
00:15:25But I think, in some ways, bringing this around safety sort of implies that the solution to this is enforcement.
00:15:32And whereas we start talking about, well, whatever kind of city we're able to do when we start talking about this as a public health issue,
00:15:38you know, then we're sort of talking about this isn't something that needs to be enforced or regulated,
00:15:43what we're now talking about is prevention, so what do we need to do to keep people healthy?
00:15:47And that cycling itself is like, you know, it's good for the environment, you know, regardless if you're doing some climate change per se,
00:15:53you know, there are even folks who you can see the tangible benefits in terms of pollution itself,
00:15:59you know, what we've seen in Paris basically with that.
00:16:02And I think in part of that, that's sort of a kind of an interesting framework to start talking about this,
00:16:07because now we're not just talking about, oh, I'm in a car, you're on a lake, creating this kind of us versus them,
00:16:13finding these wedge issues to try to divide us, and really start talking about things that maybe we all want,
00:16:18or most of us want, we can all start agreeing on, and then start looking at things where we start building these ideas
00:16:24of the so-called street, where you have safe space along to, like, steal some parking and loading where it's necessary,
00:16:31and then travel lanes where cars were necessary as well.
00:16:34But, you know, this is kind of the idea that you can rebalance things that need to be healthier, that has an assimilarated benefit as well as keeping people safer.
00:16:43And so I think, you know, even sort of the idea that to get involved with this is, you know, you don't need to be an advocate,
00:16:49or you don't need to think of yourself as a cyclist, or see somebody on a bike and think, oh, I'm not one of them, I'm someone else.
00:16:55It's like, you know, if you just want to get from point A to point B, and, you know, you want to do it in a safer, more convenient way,
00:17:01like, you can be part of this broader movement. I think, you know, Albert said it really well in terms of something, you know, really tangible.
00:17:08Like, don't be afraid of being selfish. Like, this idea of a stop sign, like, in your neighborhood, your street, you're like, oh, God, I really wish there were a stop sign here,
00:17:16because I would feel safer, my family would feel safer, it would be easier for me to cross the street.
00:17:21That could be a good reason for change. You don't necessarily need to be coming at it from an altruistic sense.
00:17:27Being selfish and being positive can be a good thing.
00:17:33There are three things that I really wish people understood or thought about more often.
00:17:40So the first thing is really that the vast majority of our public space, around 76%, is dedicated to supporting vehicular traffic,
00:17:51which leaves the crumbs of around 16% for people who walk, people who take transit, people who fight, people who rely on other mobility devices to get around.
00:18:04And the reality is that the vehicular traffic in Toronto, so it's only about 30% of all trips that take place within Toronto, are done by cars.
00:18:16They take up so much space that it looks like they're a majority.
00:18:20But the next time you're walking, you know, at an intersection, or even anyone who goes to Union Station, at the beginning or the end of the day,
00:18:29you can see the vast majority of people are transit users, walkers, people who might.
00:18:35And so the importance of making our streets safer isn't about making pedestrians wear bright lights at night,
00:18:42or trying to look at the driver in the eye and see if there's a human behind those dark windows.
00:18:48It's really about creating separated space to cater to all different kinds of road users that are probably at different speeds and with different abilities.
00:19:00So adding bike lanes is just trying to create space and to encourage active transportation.
00:19:07And then the same by making some great improvements to the pedestrian routes, right?
00:19:13By making those intersections with tighter corners that cars can't turn at 60 kilometers an hour, right?
00:19:20It's all about the concept called complete streets.
00:19:23It's not about bike lanes, that's an anticipated argument.
00:19:26It's really about how do we make our most vulnerable people, which are people that are protected by steel, to be able to get around safely.
00:19:34Because really the biggest barrier to people biking or walking in school is often a lack of safety.
00:19:41The second thing I'd like to mention is that, and Michael talked about the goal of public health.
00:19:47Well, in addition to the impact of death and serious throat injuries,
00:19:52you know, if people want to earn or do 150 minutes a week, you know, according to Canada's health guidelines in terms of getting exercise,
00:20:03by just biking or walking to work or to the somewhere where you need to get, you will automatically be like 75% of your target.
00:20:12And I know because when I was hit by a car in 2019, like many, I was uncomfortable biking for a while.
00:20:21And so I started taking transit, but at the time I had a car.
00:20:24And so I was lazy and I started driving.
00:20:27So by the time COVID happened, I was already wearing extra weight.
00:20:32I wasn't as fit or as healthy.
00:20:34And so I really learned the hard way that really making sure that your hikes are moving every day,
00:20:40really makes you happier and improved your well-being.
00:20:44And I forget the third point. I'm sure it'll come back maybe later.
00:20:49One thing I wish was better understood in the public is that road design shapes behavior.
00:20:57And that's why road design matters, and that's why that's what we advocate for.
00:21:01We've had a hundred years to police ourselves into safe streets, and that has failed.
00:21:06We've had a hundred years of public education campaigns to get safe streets, and that has completely failed.
00:21:11So the thing that we haven't tried much in North America is road design, and road design is what works.
00:21:16In cities that eliminate death and severe injuries on their street, it's because they designed their streets to be safe.
00:21:22So what are some specific things?
00:21:25Narrower lanes for cars.
00:21:27Those right there make drivers feel less comfortable speeding.
00:21:31So if you want drivers to slow down, make their lane narrower.
00:21:34You can do that as simply as with a line of paint.
00:21:37You can also do it by adding planters and ballers, but just narrow the car lane.
00:21:42That's number one.
00:21:43So as I said, I went down a rabbit hole, and I started to wonder, like, well, what would have made me safer on Bathurst Street?
00:21:49Like, what's happening there? Why did I get hit there?
00:21:52What would have made it safer is a protected cycle track with a barrier that would have reminded the driver that people on bikes exist, and she might have looked before she made the turn.
00:22:03A narrower lane for the car so that she wouldn't have been going so fast when she hit me.
00:22:09There's also things like raised crosswalks at intersections because a massive number of people who are walking are hit in a crosswalk on a green light.
00:22:20It's unconscionable.
00:22:21But can you imagine if every crosswalk was a little bit raised up from the level of the street?
00:22:27If it just was the same grade that it is when it's going alongside the street?
00:22:30Because you know when you cross the street, you kind of step down into the road, walk across, and then go up a little grade, and you're back on the sidewalk on the other side?
00:22:36If that just remained continuous at that elevation, number one, that would signal to every driver that they're entering somebody else's territory.
00:22:45It's not their territory. It's shared. And it would function as a speed hop.
00:22:49So it's slowing down at every crosswalk. And then if collisions were still happening, they would be nuisance events at slow speeds.
00:22:57They wouldn't be devastating, fatal, and severe injury-inflicting events.
00:23:02So that's one thing that I wish I could just have a megaphone and just like,
00:23:06everybody understand this. We're not building complete streets to punish motorists.
00:23:12We're doing it to save lives, because those designs save lives.
00:23:18And another thing, I just get so frustrated when I hear people pushing back on complete streets designs.
00:23:24I saw cyclists around the stop sign that one time, and you bikers, you don't get one more centimeter of bike lane until you all behave all the time.
00:23:33It's like my standards. It's like, ah, we're never going to get anywhere finger-wagging at other individuals.
00:23:39Vision Zero, the program that works, the program that changes our street design, it's about a system-level change.
00:23:46We need to focus on the systems. We need to have safe systems.
00:23:51We can't possibly go around denying infrastructure because somebody got annoyed at a pedestrian looking at their phone once.
00:23:58Which is what I see so much of in public discourse about road safety.
00:24:02Once you really get there, we need to change the way our system is designed.
00:24:08All right, Allison, did you think of your last point?
00:24:15Oh, I could actually. Thank you for asking here.
00:24:18One, we are all foreign pedestrians. We're humans, right?
00:24:22So, when people start kind of putting us into their power, we're all humans.
00:24:29So, we all behave differently throughout our days.
00:24:34We do not always choose the best in your day for the benefits.
00:24:39We find that. But we're people. We're not cyclists. We're people who fight, right?
00:24:44We're people who walk or take the same state in order to have the same considerations that we can afford.
00:24:56Great. So, I'll move on to the next question.
00:25:01And I see a hand in the audience. I will have a...
00:25:06Will there be a question period at the end?
00:25:08Yes. We will have a question period. So, my apologies.
00:25:12I will take the time to let you know the agenda now because I completely forgot to say that at the beginning. My apologies.
00:25:20So, after the panel, we're going to do a group activity where people can split up into different topics.
00:25:28We have some on cycling, walking, children's safety, as well as a focus on infrastructure and work specifically, and driving as well.
00:25:40So, sharing the road as a driver or a motorcyclist based on the Vision Zero and Toronto safety guides for different activities.
00:25:51So, those are going to be the different groups that we'll have later on after the panel.
00:25:56And then, after that, we'll regroup for a Q&A.
00:26:01Sorry. Thank you so much. My apologies for missing that.
00:26:05Great. And now I'll ask the next question.
00:26:10So, specifically thinking about advocacy and activism for a specific cause that you care about,
00:26:18I was wondering what changes have you seen come from activism or advocacy?
00:26:24And what are your favorite wins, so to speak?
00:26:27This can be something your organization, a different organization, or even something historical that you've interested in.
00:26:34So, I'm going to answer the last part first, and I'm going to flash forward into the future.
00:26:43Like, I don't know, let's say two weeks from now, you know, after Second Toronto has its charter challenge on April 16th,
00:26:49and we get a verdict back from the judge that the legislation that the province has to do as long as my claims in Toronto,
00:26:56actually our busiest my claims in Toronto, is deemed to be against the charter, and the province has to back that, and we keep our my claims.
00:27:04That will be the greatest havoc at the end, well, psychology in terms of second advocacy.
00:27:13You know, and certainly lead up to all this, you know, I think, just sort of thinking about how change is both, like, really fast and really slow at the same time,
00:27:27and how it's, like, just sort of really important to, you know, especially when you're in this space, and, you know, in some ways we all have the passion to be doing this,
00:27:38is you're never done, right? It's never finished. It's never, like, okay, we're done. Toronto is safe now. It's healthy now.
00:27:46It's continually having to move forward, continually having to change and readapt, and sort of realizing, too, that I think, you know, in some ways, you know, the progress that Toronto made,
00:27:57through its second infrastructure, you know, during the global pandemic, and part fuels, because, you know, the city was being questioned by advocates to do what other major cities around the world were doing,
00:28:09to accelerate their second approach, to connect their second approach, to make it easier for more people to choose the right way, that, you know, one of the things that happened in Toronto is,
00:28:19we had this massive boost of bikeways comparable to what other cities did around the world, around, you know, 40 kilometers, give or take, in case of Toronto,
00:28:27the state, we had lots of times in the building. But, you know, we're trying to keep doing this deep building at that same pace, and, you know, by taking our flight off the throttle,
00:28:38a little bit, I think it made us vulnerable to kind of work with the backlash that we saw, because, you know, we started getting more plumbers of bike lanes,
00:28:47we started getting more people liking, but there still wasn't that critical mass of, like, connectivity and infrastructure to really unlock it for more people,
00:28:56and so it became easy, I think, for skeptics or critics to sort of rally around and point at specific lines on a map, and go, like, well, there aren't enough people who like you here,
00:29:06or whatever reason I think, and therefore this bike lane should get pulled out, and, you know, I think, you know,
00:29:12it's a good reminder for the advocacy community, too, that, you know, it's not just about infrastructure,
00:29:17it's not just a matter of, like, we get the bike lane and we're done, but there does need to be really more work in terms of, you know,
00:29:23not only helping to build access to cycling, help identify to people what it is they might need to bike for,
00:29:29that could be, you know, where to keep their bike on their house, what to do if it might get stolen, more bike share pieces,
00:29:37and also just, I don't mean foster a culture of cycling, like, getting to know other people who ride a bike,
00:29:42you know, not every, you know, Allison sort of mentioned this, you know, you're not going to fit into every group
00:29:47who might be riding a bike, but the more people you know, the more people are doing it,
00:29:51the more people have kind of shared interests and sort of other things might make it easier for you to do that, too,
00:29:56and so, you know, this really is something that's, yes, it's about infrastructure, and yes, it's about fighting for infrastructure,
00:30:02but also about fighting and really fostering that culture of cycling so that, you know, when the next balance on war,
00:30:08when the next ABC Toronto, when the next group tries skateboarding and cycling to not deal with the other tangible things
00:30:15that we could be doing to make our city safer and to move better, that there's a whole community of people that are willing to push back and say,
00:30:21you know, I reject this device, this, and let's actually find solutions that work.
00:30:33Oh, sorry. So I'm going to draw on, I'm going to, one of the things about advocacy, because I think,
00:30:42I really want to talk about that importance of acting locally, you know, think locally, act locally,
00:30:48is really trying to bring people along with you. And so I'm an extrovert, I, when I really love something,
00:30:56and I've benefited from it, everyone that I meet will hear about it, and I will try to encourage them.
00:31:03And so over 20 years, not only did I get my neighbors all biking, you know, four houses of my neighbors have started biking.
00:31:14And part of that was, I was able to succeed with the whole family. When Michael mentioned, you know, during COVID,
00:31:22one of the things that the city did was roll out some innovative programs under ACTO,
00:31:28which suddenly opened up our streets for people to get out and be active.
00:31:34And it was because of that, that I was able to get my neighbor's wife and two children and I would want to fight them.
00:31:42And partly because not only were there safe lanes that I could say, hey, I've got this roof for us, it's super safe, we're fine.
00:31:50I also took them with me. And it was wonderful, it's a game changer, because at the end of my life, my neighbor's wife, Bobby,
00:32:00you know, she came up to me and she goes, now I get it. She said, like, I see you biking, coming and going,
00:32:06wearing all kinds of different clothes, you're always smiling and happy, and now I understand.
00:32:10That was such a joyful family outing. My kids were happy, like, oh my goodness, I didn't, I didn't know,
00:32:18how did I know that Ella, age eight, would be happy biking for 12 kilometers.
00:32:23And so really, it's all about opening up, helping and bringing people along.
00:32:28And so whether, you know, Kieran mentioned at the intro, between the different kinds of advocacy,
00:32:33whether it's, you know, quiet or loud, and as a mix, and even as advocates, you know, we go through different periods.
00:32:39Because sometimes, as Michael said, like, there's always something to advocate.
00:32:43And sometimes it can be overwhelming or stressful, but it doesn't mean that you stop advocating in different ways,
00:32:49and it doesn't mean that you're not going to come back to it.
00:32:52So it's really just, you know, thinking about how you can bring people along, and also find a solution for what will help you.
00:33:00And so when I began advocating, it wasn't because I was thinking about really anyone else.
00:33:05I was thinking about how do I make my daily commute more enjoyable and less stressful.
00:33:11And hey, if that's going to benefit me, then I imagine it's going to benefit a lot of other people.
00:33:16And so just in terms of a big impact, and other kinds of advocacy adjacent to cycling, but connected, is environmentalists.
00:33:25So in 2019, thanks to the efforts of a lot of environmental advocacy organizations, the City of Toronto announced a climate emergency for Toronto.
00:33:37And that led to the development of the ambitious TransformTO Net Zero Plan.
00:33:43And one of the things that benefited the boom of cycling, and the expansion of the cycling network, is the fact that one of those goals is getting 75% of all trips in Toronto,
00:33:56of under five kilometers, to be done for biopic transformation.
00:34:00And so that's an example of how different advocacy groups that share objectives can work together to help advance change in policy priorities.
00:34:14One change that I appreciate, and actually first I want to say is that there's so many advocates in the city that none of, I don't know that we can any of us take like really all the credit for any wins.
00:34:26I don't think Friends and Families for Safe Streets can take a credit for like any particular infrastructure change, for example.
00:34:32And when I got into advocacy, I was like amazed at the quality of the advocacy going on, and the people who were doing it.
00:34:41When I started meeting more people, I was like, oh my God, like you know so much, and you're just doing all this for free?
00:34:46I'm like, what? That's amazing! And I'm like really happy to be part of this community now.
00:34:51But the change I've seen that I really appreciate is I think the public sentiment has really changed, and it's becoming less pro-car overall.
00:35:01So for example, like the neighborhood Facebook page is on the part of, someone will groan like, oh, the speed camera's a cash cow, and nah, nah.
00:35:09But then now there's pushback. There didn't used to be. Now people are saying, well actually kids walk to school there, and you don't have a right to speed, so like shut up.
00:35:17And it's really refreshing and delightful to see that attitude change in the public.
00:35:22And a smaller win for friends and family for state streets, something I've been able to do in the last year or two more, is go to trials with families.
00:35:32Who's also accepting those, I can't say drivers who told their loved ones. And just be there as a person in the room who cares.
00:35:38Because if you're going through that trial and there isn't actually someone who shows up, you think that nobody cares.
00:35:43Because there's not necessarily a lot of media attention on it, and nobody else in the public is there.
00:35:48So that's one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, is go through that process with other families.
00:35:54Isn't that something that I want to do more of? Because it helps, and the more I need that, the more connections I can make, the more it gets out there that you're not alone anymore.
00:36:07Just a quick segue from what Jess is saying. I mean, we have a lot of reasons to be very positive in Toronto.
00:36:13So for example, you might have heard a lot about the bike lanes in Etobicoke. That was a 21 to 1 vote in favour of that extension.
00:36:22And the only reason that it's sort of controversial, so to speak, is because Doug Ford thought it was politically astute of him to take on this issue.
00:36:31Because his audience was not Toronto. He would lose in Toronto, and of course he was defeated in Toronto when he ran for mayor.
00:36:39His audience were people beyond Toronto who didn't understand the issue, and he was happy to play to their prejudices.
00:36:46But we have a lot of reasons to be positive in Toronto, because we've got an excellent city council.
00:36:51And when polls are done, people want safe roads. They want cycling infrastructure. They want a wider sidewalk.
00:36:57The second thing is, I'm going to take you back a few years to what people forget as a victory.
00:37:02In 2010, we went to the Ontario Chief Coroner, Patrick Brown and I, and a group that no one could disagree with.
00:37:09The United Senior Citizens, 200,000 people. So we said to them, it had been a really bad year for pedestrian cyclists, the deaths.
00:37:18We said to the coroner, you need to do a death review of pedestrian deaths, cycling deaths.
00:37:25We were really pleased that the coroner said, yeah, we're going to do that. That was a victory.
00:37:30But it went beyond that. A couple of the recommendations were complete streets.
00:37:34That was something that was in the coroner's final report.
00:37:37Patrick Brown and I sat on the coroner's expert panel.
00:37:40And the second thing, and I think this is something really to celebrate, is that coroner said,
00:37:45we want 30 kilometers speed limits on residential roads and 40 on arterias.
00:37:50And that was the same recommendations that sooner or about the same time the Toronto Medical Office of Health made.
00:37:57So initially when that recommendation was made, and that was very, very controversial,
00:38:02you know, this sort of right wing said, wow, that's terrible. You know, Toronto's going to come to a standstill.
00:38:07But within a short period of time, even the sort of right leaning council, councillors were saying in city council,
00:38:14we want a 30 kilometer street here on our residential road as well.
00:38:19They were calling for these things. So, so something that was ridiculed initially was all of a sudden being celebrated and being demanded.
00:38:26So, so that's a controversial position now is people generally sort of accept that, yeah, it makes perfect sense.
00:38:33And that's sort of central to the vision zero plan and the two complete streets.
00:38:38So then there is a victory and one that shows that sometimes it just takes the question of people being willing to save, right?
00:38:47Whether you save white lanes of war, that sounds very realistic to me.
00:38:50You need people to save and then other people feel emboldened by that.
00:38:54Lower speed limits, that makes, you know, sort of the smart people were saying, no, that doesn't make any sense.
00:39:00The community was saying that makes sense, but it took somebody to say it, the Ontario Chief Foreigner from the public, a medical officer felt,
00:39:07and then people had license to say, yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me too, because the people walking on the street might be my children,
00:39:15might be my parents, might be me, that makes sense to me.
00:39:21Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing.
00:39:24So the last question is, what are you currently working on or hoping to change?
00:39:30I know some of your current actions have been mentioned, but also are there some small local or community actions that you're working on as well as large ones?
00:39:43And how would you recommend a general person, maybe who's working around their full work week might engage?
00:39:55So, the main thing that Second Toronto is working on, is that what you're working on, is that what you're working on?
00:40:17It is, you know, fighting against the province, the provincial legislation, the so-called Bill 2-1-2, the producing gridlock saving time act.
00:40:36It's just a very funny name, because it's not true. And again, just to really kind of reiterate this, you know, Albert mentioned about the success of the Board of West-Fouth Way extension,
00:40:53but at overwhelming margin, it was voted on by city council. Like, you know, in my earlier times in Central Toronto, like I remember, you know, council votes on Mikelins being like nail biters.
00:41:05Oh my God, this is going to pass. And remembering you were like, you know, really rallying people to try to get there,
00:41:11and you were trying to email the council to really make sure you had your vote, you didn't know.
00:41:14Like, honestly, a lot of the time you would not know how these voters were going.
00:41:18Seeing the way, you know, the culture has really shifted now, that, you know, almost regardless of people's, like, political orientation,
00:41:26that most people now are voting for this infrastructure, not all, but most people are now voting for this infrastructure.
00:41:33I think does sort of show that, you know, things really are changing in terms of the public parlance.
00:41:38But, you know, in the case of, you know, in the case of Florida West, though, this idea that, you know, we can kind of let this conversation kind of degrade into these sort of issues,
00:41:53these kind of, like, these things that are sort of actually really dividing us.
00:41:57Like, if we look at what we're sort of dealing with on Bill 212, it is this, again, kind of fundamental idea of, you know, do people deserve safe space?
00:42:07Does the government have the right to take that away from us?
00:42:10And is ripping out bike lanes going to help solve congestion?
00:42:14And the answer is no.
00:42:16And this isn't just me saying this.
00:42:18This is the province's own experts who said this.
00:42:20They said this in cabinet briefings when this was being drafted in summer of 24.
00:42:24They said it again when it was being reviewed over the legislation in this table in September of 24.
00:42:29And the province's own experts keep repeating this.
00:42:32And, you know, and I think this type of, like, fixation on just taking the hornet's nest on wasting time, energy, resources, money,
00:42:4548 million dollars to rip out of these bike lanes.
00:42:47You know, imagine if our government was spending as much time obsessing over at Lorient University
00:42:52to get the Agrican Crosstown open, to get the pinch LRT open, to get the Ontario line finished.
00:42:57Like, these really important things that we need our provincial government doing.
00:43:01And them instead meddling on something that is actually not going to address the problem they're looking at to do.
00:43:07I just, you know, every once in a while I have to kind of, like, pinch myself to kind of, like, is this real?
00:43:14Is this really happening?
00:43:16But it is.
00:43:17And, you know, again, I'm hearted to hear, you know, the mayor of Frisa comments that she's staying very supportive of, you know,
00:43:24keeping the bike lanes and retaining that safe infrastructure.
00:43:27But I also want to say this idea of a compromise.
00:43:30Again, I understand what she's doing.
00:43:31She's talking about the conditions from the state.
00:43:34Her back really is up against the law.
00:43:36City Council doesn't have a lot of tools to push back on this.
00:43:39You know, we saw that when the province sort of changed the number of wards in the city.
00:43:45The city really didn't know how much every court's legal challenge failed.
00:43:48But this idea that there's a compromise or win-win, it's a fallacy.
00:43:54Restoring these travel lanes is not going to get cars moving the way the leaders planning will.
00:43:58The way the minister said they were all things.
00:44:01You know, these are sort of simple geometric problems that there's just not enough space on our roads for every person to choose to drive a car.
00:44:10And the more we pretend that it's not true, the more we sort of cover our eyes, pull our ears and, you know, blah, blah, blah to ourselves, the worse it's going to get.
00:44:19And, you know, we saw during the pandemic, if we rip off the band-aid and rebalance our street and fuel, things can be pretty good.
00:44:27And I think we need to make sure we keep moving that way.
00:44:30So, yes, I hope we win our legal challenge.
00:44:33But to the point of like, oh, it's, you know, we win the legal challenge a number of times.
00:44:37It's like, no.
00:44:38Then we all need to keep working to keep moving our city forward.
00:44:41Keep building more champions at city council.
00:44:43And to make sure folks like yourselves are, you know, letting their elected officials know that these things matter to them.
00:44:49Not just, you know, the angriest, loudest people of helpful, you know, you see something your councillor is doing or they voted on that you like.
00:44:56I don't send them an email and say, hey, thanks, thanks for voting on that.
00:44:59That can really go a long way on stuff.
00:45:01Usually councillors just hear about things when people are happy and angry at them.
00:45:04Same when you're happy and when they've done something good.
00:45:06That can be nice to you.
00:45:16I came to go next.
00:45:17I'll say simply, one of the things that we're working on, and I mentioned it previously, is about pickup trucks.
00:45:24So we do, we've set up a coordinated coalition called a coalition to reduce auto size hazards to crash.
00:45:32So if you're, anyone here, if you're walking or riding a bike, if you're hit by a pickup, you're three and a half times more likely to die than if you're hit by a normal sedan.
00:45:42So it seems to me that this should be obvious that this is a big problem and we need to act.
00:45:54And a lot of people were saying that, boy, this is really bad, but no one was doing anything about it.
00:45:59So we set up this coalition and put out a report focused on law reform at three levels of government.
00:46:07Federal government saying vehicle design needs to change.
00:46:10I mean, these big pickups are not about utility.
00:46:14We talked about utility earlier.
00:46:16Think about an electric pickup truck.
00:46:18What do you think is in this huge front end?
00:46:20Which is the problem?
00:46:21It's the height of the front end is the problem.
00:46:23What do you think is in that huge front end?
00:46:26Nothing.
00:46:27They're selling you sort of that ruggedness, the macho-ness and all of that.
00:46:31There's nothing in the front end.
00:46:32And it's simply a design feature, but it's a lethal design feature.
00:46:36So at the federal level, we've talked to bureaucrats.
00:46:38They've said, well, we're an integrated market.
00:46:41Well, they're not going to use that anymore.
00:46:44And at the provincial level said, you know, you need a, so design changes are possible.
00:46:49At the provincial level, we say, you know, reintroduce your registration fees and do it based on safety, climate zone, so on.
00:46:56Higher requirements in terms of your driver's license and several other recommendations.
00:47:02And at the municipal level, and Jess Beaker works with us on that as well.
00:47:07At the provincial level, higher fees for parking, better procurement policies in terms of cities.
00:47:14So there are solutions to these things.
00:47:16And that is one thing that we're working on.
00:47:19And I'm looking at Peter Lowe, and he reminds me that the real sort of secret to good advocacy, number one, sure, you've got to have a good strategy.
00:47:27Number two, you want to build your alliances and have a laser focus on what your objective is.
00:47:32And the reason I mention Peter is you have to have perseverance.
00:47:36So much of advocacy succeeds because people persevere.
00:47:40And Peter was involved with Bell's on floor since almost the beginning in 2007 and continues his advocacy.
00:47:47But in short, that's one of the things that we're working on, is trying to get this proliferating number of trucks that are not useful but being sold for these various qualities that people imagine they're getting up with these vehicles, working on making changes so we stop that proliferation and put restrictions on pickup trucks.
00:48:12Yeah, as Albert mentioned, Friends and Families for Safe Street is involved with that.
00:48:15I was hit with an SUV. It was an Acura MPX.
00:48:18So it's got that high, blunt front end.
00:48:20And in fact, you can't really see this where I'm wearing pants, but I have dents that slash across my thighs from where the front end of that SUV hit my legs.
00:48:30And I wouldn't have had that if it wasn't an SUV that I was hit with.
00:48:34That is like one of the most dangerous consumer products that is sold and operated in Canada.
00:48:39And in fact, I think it's outrageous that it is allowed to be sold and operated in Canada.
00:48:44So you have a government that will recalls a huge pasta at the supermarket over, like, with cereal or salmonella concerns.
00:48:50But here you have these vehicles that are grossly disproportionately involved in violent death of innocent Canadians.
00:48:57And they're like, and they just aren't doing anything about it.
00:49:03So I'm really grateful to Albert and all the other advocates involved in Crash for trying to get the federal government to wake up and start saving Canadian blood.
00:49:11Those vehicles are not that useful.
00:49:13Most of their drivers could be driving a sedan or beyond public transit.
00:49:17They're just stupid for the most part.
00:49:19Sorry. It's just true.
00:49:22Municipally, of course, Friends and Families is involved in advocating for safer street design, which is like the really big thing for us.
00:49:30And provincially, we've been significantly involved for a very long time fighting for something that's colloquially called the vulnerable road user law.
00:49:37Because, as I mentioned earlier, if a driver kills your loved one or severely injures you, you don't get any justice.
00:49:42And why is that?
00:49:43It's because those collisions tend to fall under the Highway Traffic Act.
00:49:47That's the piece of legislation with, like, two exceptions, or maybe just one, dangerous driving.
00:49:52That's a criminal offense.
00:49:53Everything else is a trivial, provincial offense.
00:49:56That doesn't really mean anything if you're convicted.
00:49:58So, drivers are convicted of charges like mine was convicted of improper use of a turn signal.
00:50:05She received zero demerit points and was buying $300 for destroying the life that I was building.
00:50:10That was what the justice system thought that I was worth.
00:50:13So, what we're fighting for is for every driver who's at fault.
00:50:17So, you're convicted.
00:50:18No question.
00:50:19It was the driver's fault.
00:50:20This isn't just, like, this is when it's done.
00:50:23We want those drivers to face meaningful penalties.
00:50:25We want their licenses to be suspended for a duration of time until they complete remedial driver training, which they just demonstrated they can't drive safely.
00:50:34So, they desperately need training so that they can if they're going to get their license back.
00:50:38We want them to complete community service related to road safety to drive home the gravity of what they did.
00:50:45Because I suspect a lot of them are in denial.
00:50:47Like, my driver didn't even apologize to me, and she had numerous opportunities.
00:50:51She never looked me in the eye and said that she was sorry.
00:50:53I think someone just said to her, oh, it was just an accident.
00:50:57And, like, oopsie-daisy, like, you just knocked over a glass of milk.
00:51:00Like, no, you need to have a penalty that gets through to these individuals what they did.
00:51:06And the last condition would be to make an in-person appearance in traffic court.
00:51:10Because a lot of victims read their impact statements to an empty chair because the driver is too much of a coward to even show up.
00:51:17And there's no mechanism to compel them even in court.
00:51:20You can just send a paralegal, and then the system thinks that that's fine.
00:51:24So we've been asking for that change for over ten years.
00:51:27I'm Patrick Brown, who Albert mentioned earlier is a personal injury lawyer, not the conservative Patrick Brown.
00:51:32He's a good Patrick Brown.
00:51:34He was the lawyer who represented me and connected me to friends and family for state streets in the first place.
00:51:39He's been involved in this for ten, fifteen years, just trying to get this passed.
00:51:42It's been tabled five, six times in the legislature.
00:51:45Originally the Liberal government voted it down, and most recently the Conservative government voted it down.
00:51:50And it's like what kind of a low bar even is it to, these aren't life changing penalties for these at fault reckless motorists.
00:51:58This should not even be in question whether something like that would get passed in the Ontario legislature.
00:52:03And yet it hasn't passed yet. So that's something we continue to work on.
00:52:07In terms of getting involved with friends and families for state streets, I actually don't want you to be court members of friends and families for state streets.
00:52:13I do not want this to happen to you. If you want to support us, you can go to our website.
00:52:17There's a join us button where you can sign up for a newsletter or stay in touch and follow us on social media.
00:52:22We have pretty much every platform on Instagram, Blue Sky, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.
00:52:28I don't really count, but I'm not super active on there, but just follow us.
00:52:32We advertise events, so you can come join us.
00:52:34For example, the annual World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims, which is a solemn memorial event that happens in November.
00:52:41I would love to see you guys come out to that at the next one if you want to.
00:52:47And in terms of projects of the family of Toronto and family friends, I'm focusing on a joyful culture and a cultural support to help open up the number of women, trans, femmes, and those that don't have access to all the resources or communities of biking, in part because I want to try and desilo different groups of women.
00:53:14At the beginning of the introduction, Kira was talking about how important our democracy is and certainly what's unfolding around the world, here at home, and certainly south of the border.
00:53:29Anyone that don't belong to a privileged class of really men in leadership position are facing incredible challenges.
00:53:41And so, you know, as a woman, one of my objectives is trying to help build my community.
00:53:48And so, I did for the first time, I rode in a fundraising race for the Friends for Life Bike Rally, which will be its 27th year.
00:53:57It's arrived from Toronto, Montreal.
00:53:59Now I'm not a roadie, it was quite a shock to me.
00:54:01But the money goes towards helping people, women and men living with HIV in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.
00:54:10And the People of AIDS Foundation is located in my community of Massa Park.
00:54:15And through this ride, I discovered just how they've affected the community, including women.
00:54:21Again, we don't talk when you hear HIV or AIDS.
00:54:24People think about, oh, it's men.
00:54:26But really, it impacts everyone.
00:54:29And so, we have organized our first annual femme-friendly bike fair for the Bike Curious.
00:54:38And invited nine different organizations that all offer programs for women, trans and femme, to get together.
00:54:46We had groups that are, you know, sports cyclists.
00:54:49We had groups that deliver through the Bike Brigade.
00:54:52We had, you know, community DIY groups that came out.
00:54:57We had, um, Charlotte's Free Wheels.
00:55:01So people came, and it was nice to see that all those new people that we hadn't met, you know,
00:55:06come and actually take advantage of trying a bike for the first time and make connections.
00:55:11So, that's something that I will continue to do in my role as bicycle mayor.
00:55:16And I should say that my first year ends at the end of September.
00:55:21So, it's awesome.
00:55:23And it helps remind me of the joy of biking, especially in advocating for road safety.
00:55:30It can be stressful.
00:55:32So, having an outlet where it's just joyful and trying to remind people of why you got a good first place is really helpful for one's sanity.
00:55:42Wonderful.
00:55:44Thank you so much for sharing what you're currently working on.
00:55:48Um, and I really appreciate that we're ending on a note about community.
00:55:53Um, so the next thing we're going to do all together, um, is split up into some different groups.
00:56:00Um, feel free to pick a table that, um, you're interested in.
00:56:05There are some different topics set out.
00:56:08Um, most of our tables are just to the left, as well as there's a couple in the back.
00:56:14Um, we have different topics.
00:56:16So, there's a couple tables focusing on cycling.
00:56:21There are a couple tables focusing on walking.
00:56:24And there's a table focusing on driving and motorcycles, as well as a table focusing on children.
00:56:31So, children's safety as well.
00:56:34Um, so there's some different resources on each table.
00:56:37Um, there's some safety guides from the city of Toronto and the, um, action plan from Vision Zero Toronto.
00:56:46As well as a couple of either news articles or studies on the topic.
00:56:51Um, some of those studies are long.
00:56:53So, feel free to just skim them.
00:56:55Um, I just put out the whole thing just in case you're interested.
00:56:59Um, and feel free to wander, um, and then pick a table that you like.
00:57:05There's also a, uh, chart paper at the back where you can share something that makes you feel safe.
00:57:12There's some pens and, uh, sticky notes at the back.
00:57:16So, feel free to take the next few minutes to pick your table and walk around.
00:57:21Um, choose your table, um, in the next five minutes or so.
00:57:25Um, and then we'll get started on our group activity.
00:57:28After we do the group activity where you can write down some thoughts on the large sticky notes.
00:57:35Um, we have two different sizes of sticky notes.
00:57:38It's very exciting.
00:57:39Um, after we do that, we'll regroup for a Q&A with the panelists.
00:57:45Alright.
00:57:56Last couple of minutes, um, before we hit 4 o'clock, um, and do a very short Q&A, um, with our panelists.
00:58:03I think we only have time for about three questions, um, just before we run out.
00:58:10So, um, I'll get everyone to come back and our panelists to come back on the stage.
00:58:16Um, and then we can, uh, grab, I think we'll grab one of the mics from the panelists quickly.
00:58:22Um, Shelby, if you don't mind coming up.
00:58:25Oh, we're getting an extra mic.
00:58:28Oh, amazing.
00:58:29We have an extra mic.
00:58:30Okay.
00:58:31Um, so amazing.
00:58:33Thank you so much for participating in the group activity.
00:58:36I was hearing some amazing conversations.
00:58:38Um, and it looks like we have a question right up front.
00:58:43Um, so I will bring you the first mic.
00:58:46Um, I don't know if, um, while we're waiting.
00:58:49Panelists, if you have anything you wanted to share briefly about the conversations.
00:58:58My name is Ron.
00:58:59I'm a scientist.
00:59:00And I'm a doctor.
00:59:01I'm also a writer.
00:59:03I'm also a writer.
00:59:05So, uh, what I want to do is a piece about the structure here.
00:59:09Uh, I want to just, uh, make a statement that our police in Toronto got zero traffic law enforcement.
00:59:24On a daily basis, I have a list of the traffic relations on a daily basis.
00:59:41I see all kinds of, uh, traffic relations.
00:59:45And they do nothing whatsoever.
00:59:47And I think the driving car culture is very poor in the city.
00:59:51Not only, uh, uh, drivers, but also cyclists sometimes do not play in their direction.
00:59:56Uh, pedestrians cross on the red light.
01:00:00They do jaywalking, especially, uh, Central Street, you know, like University campus.
01:00:05They just do jaywalking across the bicycle lanes.
01:00:08I see police cars parking on a bicycle lane.
01:00:12Uh, uh, uh, other cars, you know, like, uh, and things like that.
01:00:16So, I just want to make a statement that we need to work on, uh, driving culture, traffic culture in this city.
01:00:23That's the second, the most important thing.
01:00:26And also, do you guys, uh, any of you, my question is, do you think, does any of you have a live zone report to other police?
01:00:33I would say that you should go contact your counselor and the mayor.
01:00:46We haven't, the police, uh, yeah, it's very frustrating because, yes, enforcement, there's no systematic enforcement.
01:00:55And there is some good works, uh, in place.
01:00:57Like, the city is moving to invest more into automatic enforcement.
01:01:00So, to really move away from the really costly and ineffective on the ground police enforcement.
01:01:06But the reason infrastructure becomes really important, um, is to make sure that everyone has a space where they can get around.
01:01:16So, part of the conflicts and why people are behaving, right?
01:01:19Why you may see a cyclist on the sidewalk is because, oh my God, the road is so unsafe.
01:01:25So, you're gonna ride on the sidewalk.
01:01:27Not possible.
01:01:28If you see someone jaywalking to catch, you know, to catch their bus, it's because it's like a kilometer for them to get to the proper light and then cross.
01:01:37And so, for people who have mobility issues, it's really frightening.
01:01:40And, for example, every time I go, say, to Scarborough, um, I just, I shudder when I see, you know, elderly folks who, who are trying to rush to get to that bus or their community center.
01:01:52And, and so really, the, the solution really is removing the need for enforcement by creating and designing our streets for everyone.
01:02:02Yes, that, that, that's, that's number one.
01:02:04Number two is law enforcement because, uh, I can tell you that, uh, being a cyclist, I need to be a mind reader.
01:02:11Every cyclist in this city needs to be a clever order, to be a mind reader.
01:02:15Because, uh, 90% of the drivers, they do not point in their direction.
01:02:20It's very dangerous, you know, it's super dangerous.
01:02:24So, that's a part of the issue.
01:02:26Um, can I just want to move on?
01:02:28Um, I get to join you in tracking on the police and also explain why, uh, uh, an element of harm that I hadn't been exposed to before I got involved in this work.
01:02:39So, the police significantly reduced their rates of traffic enforcement in about 2013 because they did not get a budget increase that they asked for.
01:02:48So, it's kind of like a silent strike.
01:02:50And when they stopped doing that enforcement, more people were killed.
01:02:54You might have heard the name of the epidemiologist David Fitzman during the pandemic.
01:02:58Before the pandemic, he did an analysis on all of the crash data for Toronto and found that around 140 extra people were killed.
01:03:08And it was attributable to that decline in enforcement.
01:03:11And the police, they keep these statistics.
01:03:14They know that.
01:03:15They sat on their hands and they watched our loved ones die in increasing number of crashes.
01:03:19This could even include me.
01:03:21I was hit in 2015 and they stopped in 2013.
01:03:23Maybe if the driver who hit me had had a Morrison pullover, she would have been on better driving behavior.
01:03:30So, I'm white hot enraged at that, but I don't want more police enforcement because the police are racist and violent and dangerous.
01:03:40And I do not want my safety to come at the expense of anyone else's safety.
01:03:44So, parents whose skin is not white will tell their children whose skin is not white.
01:03:50Well, what they don't tell them is go find a police officer if something weird is going on.
01:03:55They don't say that.
01:03:56I got that message when I was a little girl because my skin is white.
01:03:59Other parents don't say that to their kids.
01:04:02And so, I think, I guess maybe this goes back to the question of what you wish more people knew is how racist and violent and dangerous the police are.
01:04:09If they pull you over for a traffic violation, the odds of you being a victim of brutality skyrocket when your skin is not white.
01:04:18And I think that's abhorrent.
01:04:20They take $1.2 billion out of our municipal budget every year to hoover it up like a vacuum.
01:04:25And what do we get for it? Very little.
01:04:27And I would love to see them detasked from that role because we just have safe streets and they are redundant and not necessary
01:04:33because we've designed our streets to make dangerous driving behavior impossible but very uncomfortable.
01:04:38And I'd love to see them when you reinvested back into Vision Zero.
01:04:41So, it is deeply frustrating to watch a cop do a FIDO, which is F it, drive off.
01:04:48They watch people break the law and it's like, meh, F it, and they just go because they don't want to do their job.
01:04:54That's infuriating. And also, we should not have them involved in traffic enforcement. That's my take.
01:05:00You don't even need to be racialized, you can be targeted by the police.
01:05:07Oh, I mean, I think there are, there are a few challenges to, I mean, certainly in the case of, you know, not to make this specific kind of trauma,
01:05:17but certainly in the case of, like, looking at enforcement issues in High Park, Toronto.
01:05:23Again, Toronto Police spends a lot of time and energy policing people on bikes, riding through the park,
01:05:31versus looking at issues, sort of, around there with traffic issues.
01:05:36And Parkside Drive, the street right beside the park, consistently has the highest numbers of automated speed enforcement infractions,
01:05:45and, you know, trying to get that street, uh, redesigned so that it's safer for everyone.
01:05:51Um, um, um, it just seems to be, like, a long, uh, process that possibly is at risk now, because of the consequences of what we went to,
01:05:59because the province is saying we need to prioritize, uh, travel times, not, uh, not necessarily, uh, safety or not safety.
01:06:06And, and the, uh, police association, uh, backed forward during the election.
01:06:12Mm-hmm.
01:06:13So, in fact, this kind of signals that there's kind of a link between the current provincial government and our political law enforcement.
01:06:22Mm-hmm.
01:06:25All right, thank you for the moment with Satiks. Um, is there another question?
01:06:30I will also mention that we are overtime, so it is 4 o'clock, so if anyone had time where they needed to do something at 4 o'clock,
01:06:40no one will judge you if you walk out. Um, but we will ask, uh, if there is one last question, uh, from anyone today.
01:06:49Okay.
01:06:54I can't hear you. Oh, okay.
01:06:58Uh, thanks for your presentation, Devon, letting us know about it, all the efforts you're making.
01:07:03I just wanted to ask, among those efforts, are you, specifically when it comes to road design,
01:07:09have you tabled anything that's more along the lines of, say, restricting the size of the planes?
01:07:16Not so much that we can't drive or anything, but you were talking about speed enforcement,
01:07:21speed enforcement, and I'm thinking, well, in addition to automated speed enforcement,
01:07:26maybe just having the widths of the roads in such a way that even without anyone there,
01:07:33just from a purely selfish point of, I don't want to crash, I don't want anything happening to me,
01:07:38so if the roads would be a bit narrower, so I couldn't speed as much, because how can I?
01:07:43Or if it was a bit more restrictive, or is there anything tabled, um, on, on that?
01:07:50Um, yeah, I think that's a great question. Um, you know, like, it's common to say, um, you know,
01:07:57it's an advocacy, second advocacy, that paint is an infrastructure, and, you know, that is true
01:08:02when we're talking about people riding bikes on busier interior roads, and a strip of paint is not
01:08:07going to be what protects them, but in terms of an overall improving, um, traffic, um, and safety overall,
01:08:13you just said this too, that, like, physically, like, narrowing roadways just with paint does have a traffic calming effect,
01:08:20and, um, you know, we look at the case of the, uh, Bloor West bikeways, which again are maybe the epicenter
01:08:26of some of this, um, provincial shenanigans that are going on now, and a lot of the concerns around travel times.
01:08:32Some of the travel times on Bloor, the slower travel times with the before versus after, is a feature, not above.
01:08:39The lanes on Bloor, uh, West have been narrowed, like, not just the bike lanes added, but the travel lanes
01:08:44that have remained have narrowed, so that cars aren't speeding to the same extent as they were.
01:08:49Like, I think, um, before the Bloor West bikeways installation, um, cars were speeding, like, well over,
01:08:55uh, 60, 70 kilometers per hour, and the average, um, uh, do you remember, Albert, what the average travel time is?
01:09:02Yeah, gone down considerably, and so a lot of the concerns around, oh, um, it takes longer to drive on Bloor West now,
01:09:08it's like, well, that's a, in some cases, that's a good thing, because it means the road's safer,
01:09:13means everybody can move at a more predictable pace, and move at a much more human scale.
01:09:18I think, you know, your point, too, around enforcement, you know, one of the most important things with all of this,
01:09:23and, you know, this goes to Justice points, too, is that people are going to make mistakes.
01:09:28A lot of people are going to be, uh, idiots and selfish and not pay attention.
01:09:33It's how you make it so that, with the consequences of those things happen, that people aren't seriously killed,
01:09:38um, seriously injured or killed. And that is sort of the fundamental, uh, sort of idea around improving infrastructure around Vision Zero,
01:09:46so that when people help take mistakes, um, other people aren't seriously injured or killed.
01:09:51Yeah, just, just quickly, I mean, we know what the answers are in terms of road design, and Vision Zero contemplates those changes.
01:10:00The only problem is the time it takes, so it's, it's hugely expensive.
01:10:04So, the, the Vision Zero budget, I think, is something like 23 million capital.
01:10:09Now, now, if you add a, uh, traffic light, that's like $200,000, so 23 million is a drop in the bucket.
01:10:15And the other interesting thing is, so we know what the answer are, it's just going to take a lot of money.
01:10:20The second thing is, do you know what the biggest expenditure is around, along, um, under Vision Zero?
01:10:26It's, uh, crossing guards. And so, so in other words, we're going to need a lot more money to change streets.
01:10:32But in the interim, some of the things we can do are lowering speed limits, speed cameras.
01:10:37I mean, for example, pickup trucks. I mean, those are killers, no matter where you are in, in the city.
01:10:42And the other problem is, any time we do propose these things, it's a huge fight.
01:10:47And, and partly, it's a class fight. Like, if we look at the Kingsway and the M Centers, or the opposition to the lower bike lanes,
01:10:53it was a wealthy kind of clique of local businessmen that, that were really well-organized, had the year of the premier.
01:11:02Um, Yonge Street's the same thing, Summerhill Residence. Avenue Road, the same thing, with the, uh, South Hill Residence Association.
01:11:09So those fights are taking a lot longer than they should, but the city knows what needs to be done.
01:11:15We need a lot more money, and we need to push back against some of the opponents more effectively.
01:11:21Because right now, um, they're not winning these battles, but they're slowing down the victory.
01:11:27I can add something, too. There's a, a whole sidebar here about the design regulations.
01:11:32So there's, like, this book of design regulations, and, like, how signs are supposed to look, and where are you supposed to put them?
01:11:38And one of them governs the width of car lanes. And there's, like, a minimum width, which is still way too wide.
01:11:44But when you ask for lanes to be narrow, and someone at the city was like, well, we can't do it. It's not in the guidelines. That's too narrow.
01:11:49Or, like, uh, a bus might want to drive there, like, if there's a TTC route.
01:11:53Or fire trucks have been a past justification. Although I have to say the fire department is fully on side with Vision Zero.
01:11:59They do not give feedback that impedes the installation of complete streets, because complete streets do not impedes the travel of emergency vehicles.
01:12:08But there is that element, and I actually don't know how to go about advocating to change that.
01:12:14Um, so that's a very good question, and there's a whole rabbit hole underneath that about the technical design regulations that traffic engineers follow.
01:12:23And the Toronto Public Library is in possession of an excellent book called Killed by a Traffic Engineer by Wesley, I forget his name.
01:12:32Killed by a Traffic Engineer. Look it up. Borrow it from your local branch. It's a stellar book.
01:12:38And, hey, because we're here in North York, you should all be reaching out, emailing your counselor, uh, Councillor Chang,
01:12:44and asking her, you know, where you can, where you can take, um, Adult Learn to Ride programs.
01:12:51Ask her when the TransformTO project is going to start consultations, because that is a really ambitious project that's been in the work for over 15 years,
01:13:02that will help improve this high street, which is a stroke that makes it easier for people to bike and walk and get around.
01:13:11Okay. Wonderful. Um, so just to follow up, the, um, author of that book is Wesley E. Marshall, um, Killed by a Traffic Engineer, um,
01:13:22that is listed in our, um, resources sheet that is at the back, um, where we have a variety of resources, including books, um, some news articles, studies and reports,
01:13:34and safety resources, um, some of which we looked at today, but also some sections, um, about how to get involved with advocacy action in your community.
01:13:45Um, specifically, we do have a link to a, um, a form, uh, survey that the, uh, current, um, I believe, counselor, Lily Chang, um, has circulated.
01:14:01Specifically about this area, there is a poster at the back, um, it is also linked on the handout, as, um, so feel free to check those out,
01:14:12and, uh, look at the different resources. Um, selfishly, I will also ask the panelists one last question that was in the, uh, section here,
01:14:24um, which is what would you recommend people read up on or engage with if they want to learn more?
01:14:30Which, um, I believe was slightly answered, but I want to poke at that slightly a little bit more.
01:14:39I've got one that comes to mind. If you have access to YouTube, which I'm sure you all do, there's a channel. It's so accessible and delightful.
01:14:45It's called Not Just Bikes. Just watch those videos. They are so fun and entertaining, and there's so much information in them.
01:14:53He goes through and shows you street designs in different places, and compares and contrasts, and explains how the infrastructure design change impacts behavior,
01:15:01and it's, it's a fantastic channel, and he pokes holes in myths, and it's humorous, and we were recently mentioned in one video,
01:15:09so I was super chuffed about that. Um, so check it out.
01:15:13And Street Smart. So that's a great accessible book that, that provides a bit of history about how we went from being able to take, you know,
01:15:22trams, and walking, and kids playing in the streets, to, you know, having to make way for cars.
01:15:28Um, and it's also explained that it covers all, like, seniors, and children, and transit. It will get you really excited.
01:15:40Yeah, you can certainly look at the, uh, website, the Crown Community Bikeways Coalition.
01:15:44A lot of resources on there, um, including our report on, uh, pickups. So that's another option for you.
01:15:51Someone else? That was an opportunity for you to plug your book.
01:15:55Yeah, plug the book.
01:15:57There's, there's Albert's book, which is available, uh, at the back.
01:16:00How about those books?
01:16:01There we go. Uh, and then, um,
01:16:03How much is it, Albert?
01:16:04How much? Did you get a discount for cash? For being here?
01:16:09I think you can certainly buy a copy of the, uh, the book for $20, which is, uh, my cost, uh, so it's, uh, a good deal here today. Or if you can, uh, borrow it from the library, uh, Toronto Public Library has 25 copies.
01:16:23Um, the other one I'll just, uh, say as well is, um, uh, podcast, uh, War on Cars, which, um, is New York focused.
01:16:32I think though, like, you know, again, New York is both further ahead in a lot of ways, but also behind in some ways in Toronto.
01:16:39But it does have a very, um, the title specifically does have a Toronto origin, of course, uh, the, uh, podcast has acknowledged this, that it is a reference to, uh, when Rob Ford, uh, took office in Toronto and claimed that the, quote, the War on Cars is over.
01:16:56Oh, and bitemonth.ca, both psychoteo.ca, but bitemonth.ca.
01:17:02So, bitemonth begins in June, and that's a really exciting time to connect with people who bite, discover biking.
01:17:11It's a city-run program.
01:17:13You go to the website, bitemonth.ca, um, there's all sorts of group rides.
01:17:19There's an annual Bike and Work Day that is super fun.
01:17:23Type of, what, June 3rd this year? June 4th.
01:17:26Um, and everyone, there are four different Peter rides that go into, um, City Hall.
01:17:31Where there's a pancake breakfast, and it's just super fun.
01:17:36So, mark your calendars this month, um, and, you know, we'll see you there, I hope.
01:17:42And it's great.
01:17:43Wonderful.
01:17:44Great.
01:17:45Can I get a round of applause?
01:17:47Um, to North York Central Library.
01:17:48Um, and just, uh, know that, if you do want to take any of the handouts that we have, um, the Vision Zero pamphlets that were on the table, you're welcome to do so.
01:17:57Um, and there's some of the Toronto Psyche'ing maps at the back, as well as the resources sheet.
01:18:02If you want to take any of the handouts that we have of the Vision Zero pamphlets that were on the table, you're welcome to do so.
01:18:10Again, there's some of the Toronto Psychian maps at the back, as well as the resources sheet, and the library will still be open until 5 o'clock.
01:18:19So if you do want to check out our book display, which did obviously include one copy of the lovely book here.
01:18:31Titles, where are the titles?
01:18:35Wheeling Through Toronto, a History of the Bicycle and Its Records by Albert Cole.
01:18:44There was one there, I don't know if it's still there, but there are other books on the topic, and design is definitely here.
01:18:53So feel free to check that out. And yeah, that's it. Thanks so much for coming.
01:19:00Thank you so much for having us here doing this.