Thursday’s headlines

7 comments

1. “2008 traffic deaths surpass homicides”

   What a tool Const. Roberts is! Never mind the drivers not paying attention, it’s those darned pedestrians and cyclists fault for getting themselves killed. Hmm, I wonder how he comes into work… from the suburbs?

2. This was in the National Post article about traffic deaths:
   “Cyclists are just as much to blame as anyone else,” Const. Roberts said.
   I would disagree, though it’s impossible to defend all cyclists – some bring extra danger to themselves and others.

3. Here’s how I see it…

   You have 2 people, a cyclist and a motorist.

   Person A, the cyclist, is wrapped in 1 or more layers of thin fabric sometimes intended to enhance aerodynamics, but generally worn for modesty and/or style.

   Person B, the motorist, is encased in a shell comprised of a variety of metals, plastics, carbon fiber and/or glass. This shell also moves at a much higher rate of velocity than Person A.

   So you have a fleshy mass wrapped in cotton vs. a fast tank, basically…who of these 2 has a greater potential to do injury to themselves and others? The fleshy mass, or the tank?

   Certainly both persons need to be good citizens. However, given their substantial differences in mass and composition, who has a greater responsibility to ensure they conduct themselves in a responsible manner?

   A car runs over a cyclist and the person being hit bares the blame? Huh? I was under the impression that the person doing the hitting was generally at fault. How does this not apply to bicycle/vehicle collisions?

4. The fact that they don’t include 401 traffc fatalities within the 416 renders the main point of the article invalid. The bottom line is that every year, more people are killed in or by cars in the 416 than those killed by the hands of criminals. In the 905, I suspect the number of people killed in or by cars is higher, but have no info to back that up. People who live outside the core think they are safer than their inner city counterparts when in fact, they’ve got a much higher chance of being killed.

5. I really hope our Mayor is enjoying his dim sum (I like the BBQ pork buns, myself) while the city is about collapse into commuter chaos on Monday.

   On another note, Bob Kinnear should realize that (rightfully) neither the Mayor, nor Adam Giambrone are going to take his bait and replace Gary Webster thereby making him a lame duck. It was a clever political gambit to try, but it didn’t pay off…so let’s move on and get a deal done.

   Does it bare mentioning that this strike has been fairly assured for a couple of weeks now? The first mention from Kinnear that he wanted Gary Webster replaced meant, in my view, that ATU was going to take this all the way, regardless of the ongoing bargaining.

   I don’t want to be right about that. Although, I could use some more exercise to get rid of the winter gut…maybe the strike will be a blessing in disguise.

6. another reason why bike lanes are so important.Maybe we should ask why we will only be getting 50 k of lanes when hundreds were promised in the last election.Gord Perks take note!

7. This strike is another nail in the coffin of decent transit:
   Nail 1: the Harris years putting us more than a decade behind
   Nail 2: liberal gov’ts more talk than action
   Nail 3: 905 ‘cities’ still in love with freeways
   Nail 4: 416 gov’t that won’t get tough on driving or parking
   Nail 5: a horrendous mess-up of the ‘light-rail’ on Queen’s Quay and St. Clair
   Nail 6: previous strikes
   Nail 7: a constituion making provinces too strong, and cities too weak
   Nail 8: deteriorating condition of the subways and stations
   Nail 9: deteriorating TTC customer service
   Nail 10: this strike
   How many nails are there in a coffin?