To: Whom It May Concern,
While I looked at this with some interest it was with far more leeriness and skepticism of it until the project was finished. Why?
My name is Chris MacFarlane and to be transparent I was the cyclist who was hit by a driver and left to die March 4th 2019 on the Bayridge overpass. In your artists rendering of what the Bayridge overpass over Bath Road I can see the location of were I was left maimed and to die. To say I have a unique view is putting it mildly.
And due to both the physical injuries as well as the PTSI, Anxiety, Depression, and Traumatic Brain Injury from getting hit a zoom meeting was not the venue to express my thoughts on the Bayridge Project.
While the K Rails on the over pass will protect cyclists reality is unless that is actually done there is zero point to do anything else. Just looking at the Bath Road "protected " bike route time and again have seen drivers driving in it and so on. And knowing how the process evolved around the Bath Road "protected" bike lane project there is a very good chance I feel that the K Rails on the overpass will disappear from this when the project is completed. Which will be a willful decision that shows that cyclists lives mean nothing and no need to protect despite the endless statements of how Kingston is a bike safe community. Because mere painted lines and flexible bollards are nothing better then thoughts and prayers.
Looking closer at the project I see nothing mentioned about what will be put in place to prevent a driver if the K Rails are actually installed from driving down that part.
This is seen daily on the Bath Road "Protected" Bike Route. I myself have experienced that and is why I no longer use the Bath road "protected" bike route. What is being done to prevent that? Also add what will be done during the chillier times of year to keep this route accessible or will it end up being an impassable snow dump forcing cyclists to risk their lives with those using automotive weapons?
It is also extremely concerning that the off road bike route on Bayridge is going past the sports field off Bayridge as the space this is to be built is where people park when sports are occurring on the sports field. Based on how most drivers behave in Kingston they will have zero issue parking their vehicles making the off road bike route impassable and forcing riders into dangerous traffic. Clearly no thought has been done about this so it leaves me to conclude that nothing will be done to address this till a cyclist is maimed or killed. Made worse because there will be zero enforcement of driver behaviour by a community that claims to be cycling safe.
Reality is aside from required street and such crossings unless a physical barrier there as in the artists rendering is in place between cyclists and those operating automotive weapons. It is a wasted effort that is no better then thoughts and prayers which further shows that Kingston is not a cycling safe community.
Just looking at this project draft shows that Council and others have known for years that Bayridge was dangerous to cyclists. Yet nothing was done despite it clearly being a death trap for cyclists and pedestrians.
Reality is that at the end of the day no amount of cycling infrastructure will address how nothing is done to enforce drivers to behave better as to date it has been endless talk and look we did something while putting all the responsibility on the victims of those driving cars.
Sincerely,
Chris MacFarlane
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