Cyclists are still woefully unsafe in GTA

Re Driver will be back on road in 10 years and Alleged hit and run leaves cyclist and her son looking for perpetrator, July 25 How many Star readers noticed that front-page stories on two major sections of Tuesday’s edition were about cyclists? Sad stories they were, and further affirmation that cyclists are still woefully unsafe on Toronto/GTA roads.

Sad also is the fact Halton Region believes that “only about 100 collisions with cyclists per year” and “only six deaths since 2010” make cycling incidents “relatively rare.”

Let’s do the math: That’s almost one death per year and about one collision every 3.5 days. Since when is this acceptable when referring to any demographic?

If automobile drivers felt their lives were being threatened every time they turned out of their driveway, as cyclists do, perhaps things would change.

Until then, wear your helmet and be prepared to second-guess every driver with whom you share the road. Judith Butler, Toronto Mitchell Irwin killed a cyclist when he sped through an amber light going 87 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

The City of Toronto encourages such behaviour.

Every Toronto motorist knows that when the light turns amber, it is a signal to speed up before it turns red.

There is a one- to two-second pause before the light turns green on the intersecting road, giving the speeding motorist enough time to clear the intersection.

In contrast, Montreal motorists know that the instant the light turns red, the light turns green on the intersecting road.

They enter the intersection on an amber light only if they are going too fast to stop safely. Otherwise, they slow down and stop when they see an amber light.

Toronto has a lot to learn from Montreal about traffic management and cyclist safety. Joseph Thomas, Toronto