If you participated in our Fancy Women’s Bike Ride back in June, you’d know about a fairly aggressive confrontation we had with a driver who claimed we were bullies on “his street” because we were riding our bikes in a group and asked him to wait 30 seconds so we could all pass safely.
I didn’t make a big deal of this encounter because I didn’t want to overshadow the beauty of that group ride. You know, women and children in dresses and tiaras riding their bikes together on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in June.
Fast forward a few weeks and a 19-year-old woman goes on the news to say that it’s not fair to “punish” the local residents with calm streets when Lyndale Drive was clearly designed wide enough to accommodate many modes of transport.
Hmmmm, interesting. I wonder if this 19-year-old knows about the other 19-year-old who, just weeks before, on a “street designed wide enough to accommodate all modes of transport,” killed a cyclist who was on his way to work at 7 AM.
We need to do better as humans sharing this city, never mind these roads. It’s probably a good thing I’m not in politics because when this young lady pointed out that all this is doing is “pushing fast traffic through the side streets,” I would have doubled down and made ALL side streets into 30 km/hr greenways and put modal filters to make sure that stops as well.
But I digress. Please take a moment to read Suzanne Simpson’s plea and sign the petitionto keep Lyndale as a neighbourhood greenway.
In Suzanne’s words, “Seeing as the frequent changes to the rules on Lyndale have led to some confusion and frustration, I propose the following to ensure simplicity, consistency and safety:
• that Lyndale remain a 30km road year-round
• that the city introduce permanent traffic calming measures as needed to ensure Lyndale remains a low-traffic street.”
Watch this space as well as our social media for more ways you can show your support!