Flashing orange hand means don’t walk!

Given that Mayor John Tory has declared war on gridlock, and rightly so, I am astonished that nothing has been done to deal with a major contributing factor: pedestrian ignorance.

According to the Ministry of Transportation, a flashing or steady orange hand on traffic signals at intersections means pedestrians must not begin to cross. This flashing hand gives turning vehicles an opportunity to proceed before the light turns red. But vehicles cannot turn because pedestrians continue to enter the intersection. The result: vehicles continue to back up and become logjammed, causing excessive traffic and paralyzing vehicular flow.

Nothing has been done to educate the public about flashing hand signals, nor has anything been done to enforce this law. One only has to observe what goes on at major intersections, especially during rush hours, to see the significant gridlock this causes. Hy Haberman, Toronto Re Delivery vehicle blocking a bike lane? Likely Canada Post, July 24 The Bloor bike lanes affect those of us with disabled parking stickers more heavily than other would-be parkers. There is now much less parking on this stretch of Bloor.

So, when I go to the pharmacy to discuss my prescriptions or to my doctor (both of which are on Bloor in the bike-lane zone), I often search in vain for parking close enough for me to walk without great pain. I have received many tickets for parking on side streets, which do not allow parking at all.

Do not tell me to resort to Wheel-Trans or a wheelchair to solve this problem: My independence and mobility, via the car and the sticker, are just as important to me as are the bikers’ independence and mobility to them.

People with disabled stickers were not considered when this bike-lane plan was developed and we have not been canvassed for its effect on us.

I am not impressed that our councillors have made one vulnerable group bear a disproportionate burden to advance the safety and interests of another. Mary Eberts, Toronto