Better Bike Lanes On The Bloor St. Viaduct

The Toronto Cyclists Union and Toronto Transportation Services celebrated wider bike lanes on the Bloor St. Viaduct today. The viaduct, which is actually named the Prince Edward Viaduct carries about 50,000 vehicles daily and bicylce volume is in excess of 3400 on a typical summer day!  During rush hour peaks bike volume may be in excess of 300 bikes per hour!!! WOW, that's a lot of pedal power.

Major Bike Lane Safety Improvements - Bloor Viaduct Celebration!!

Thanks to a collaboration between City transportation staff and local ward-based cycling advocates, some fantastic improvements have finally been made to the bike lanes on the Bloor Viaduct.

You are invited to join us to experience the wider and safer bike lanes and transition zones along the viaduct, and to celebrate these much needed improvements with Transportation staff, Ward 29 Bikes, and the Toronto Cyclists Union!

What: Celebration of this excellent infrastructure upgrade along one of the busiest stretches of roadway in Toronto! (with freezies to beat the heat)

Location: Grounds at the West side (eastbound) approach to the Viaduct, South side by Rosedale Heights School for the Arts. Look for the bright orange bike union tent!

Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM       Date: Thursday, July 8th

This is a great opportunity for us all to say thanks to the City for making these needed changes and improving conditions for all cyclists crossing this busy bridge – we hope to see you there!

An old narrow bike lane on the Bloor St. Viaduct.


An new WIDER bike lane with double white lines.
The black stripe is where the single white line used to be.

Bells On Bloor! RING OUT FOR BIKE LANES ON BLOOR!

JOIN

TORONTO'S BIGGEST

PEDAL-POWERED PARADE

IN A MUSICAL RIDE

ALONG BLOOR STREET

MEET AT HIGH PARK @ NOON

SATURDAY MAY 29TH

WWW.BELLSONBLOOR.CA

New surveillance footage: Michael Bryant loses patience when Sheppard lingers at green light

This is an update to this original posting.

I was contacted today with the following message with the subject: "New surveillance footage: Michael Bryant loses patience when Sheppard lingers at green light" and link to the attached youtube video. Please take a look, and form your own opinion. I know the media stories lately seem to be leaning towards blaming the victim, however, it is still my feeling that the car should have immediately stopped. One more thing; please share the road!

"Please take a look at the links below to YouTube videos (surveillance camera footage) showing what happened exactly – at Bay & Bloor in Toronto - between cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard and motorist Michael Bryant. The clips appeared on City TV hours after the accident, yet the media continues to imply Sheppard chased the car down on foot in a rage after a minor collision.

In the footage, Bryant loses patience after the light turns green - first uses the car to intimidate Sheppard. Then strikes him and pushes him ten feet. Bryant then puts it in Reverse then Drive and guns it past Sheppard. As the cyclist struggles to get up, he grabs the passing car mirror to try to keep the car at the scene."

NOW Magazine (read public comments at bottom)

http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/story.cfm?content=171209

Bryantfacts

http://twitter.com/bryantfacts

Bryanttruths

http://twitter.com/bryanttruths

On YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/honestedits

Former ON Attorney General Charged

Former Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant has been charged with criminal negligence causing death after a 33-year-old cyclist was struck and killed last night.

He was also charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death.

Friends identified the victim as bicycle courier Darcy Allan Sheppard, father of three.

Bryant is scheduled to appear in Old City Hall court on Oct. 19.

Sheppard, who was called Al by friends, was likely heading to his new home in the Dupont and Dufferin Sts. area at the time of the incident, friends said. They said Sheppard had just got back together with his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Misty, and had said he wanted to marry her.

"Things were starting to go well for him right around now. Stuff was looking good for him," said 24-year-old Sana, who did not want to give her last name.

Witnesses on Bloor St. last night described a heated confrontation between the driver of a black Saab convertible and a cyclist that began near Bloor and Bay Sts. at about 9:45 p.m.

Police Sgt. Tim Burrows said that after a minor collision, the cyclist grabbed hold of the car, which drove west on Bloor toward Avenue Rd.

Witnesses said the cyclist clung to the driver's side of the car, which had its top down, while the driver yelled at him to get off.

The vehicle veered into the eastbound lanes and mounted the curb, brushing against trees and poles. The victim was apparently run over by the rear wheels of the vehicle, witnesses said.

The driver's wife was a passenger in the car, police said.

Lots of people were watching and they couldn't believe what was happening," said Ryan Brazeau, a worker with a crew laying sewer pipes on Bloor.

One construction worker told CTV News he heard the squeal of tires and saw the car racing the wrong way down the street past their construction site, with the cyclist hanging onto the car.

"The guy hanging onto the car, hit the mailbox, hit the road, (then) . . . the car ran over him with the back tires," the witness said. "The guy bounced and the car sped off . . . the person was there just bleeding."

The witness said he felt sick to his stomach when he saw the cyclist "bleeding from his head, his mouth."

Sheppard was taken to St. Michael's Hospital with serious head injuries and died around midnight.

Burrows said a large portion of the incident was captured on surveillance video and that investigators are working to fill in the gaps.

Police said alcohol was not involved.

Around 9 a.m. today two of Sheppard's friends sat on the sidewalk scrawling notes for their friend, which they taped to a tree.

Read the full story at thestar.com

Now that a former, high level Ontario government official has (allegedly) managed to kill a cyclist, perhaps we will finally get bike lanes on Bloor St. Then again in David Millers toronto, I'd expect that we will have to kill off a few more cyclists in 'accidents' such as this one. Maybe then we will see some change. This whole thing reeks of a case of road rage on at least Michael Bryant's part, and maybe on the part of the unfortunate cyclist too, but that doesn't justify dragging a man down the street until you (allegedly) kill him.

More than family happens at Swiss Chalet

So the big delay last night was a robbery and hostage taking situation across the street at the Swiss Chalet. There were two robbers and they got away with an undisclosed amount of cash and the police have no description of them.

Story on CP24.com

Bloor Street East at Sherbourne St. July 12, 2007

Bloor & Sherbourne St. 1907

This photograph shows the END of Bloor Street at Sherbourne Street in Toronto in 1907. This is essentially outside of my front door. Of course now, Bloor Street continues with the addition of the Bloor Street Viaduct in the early part of the 20th century.