September 25, 2024 - As reported, Ontario is considering to ban new bike lanes that replace car lanes, and Premier Doug Ford made several exaggerated claims about bike lanes in Toronto at a news conference on Sept. 23 which CBC News has fact-checked and debunked many of his claims.
Ford claimed that emergency response times increasing in Toronto but the city refuted this two years ago.
“Talk to our first responders that are pulling their hair out, the fire trucks that can’t get across the road because there’s barriers or there’s bike lanes and they’re backed up. Talk to our police that are trying to get to a call or our paramedics. It’s an absolute disaster, it’s a nightmare,” said Ford.
In an email to CBC Toronto on Sept. 24, the city said emergency services have not raised concerns about facing difficulties due to bike lanes.
“Emergency services are accustomed to manoeuvring through a variety of road conditions throughout the city on a daily basis and will continue to take the route that provides the fastest response based on the specific conditions at the time of dispatch,” the email said.
According to Ford, “Go on Bloor Street … There’s a petition just in Etobicoke for 50,000 people, signing to get rid of these bike lanes. You might see four or five bikes as you see traffic lined up all the way down the road for kilometres and kilometres.”
About 13,300 people have signed a petition on change.org calling for the “re-evaluation and balanced integration” of bike lanes on Bloor Street in Etobicoke.
The petition does not explicitly call for the bike lanes to be removed, but expresses several concerns about the lanes — including that two lanes of traffic in each direction are “crucial” for Bloor Street.
Read the full report here.
