Last night, Torontonians voted for cars and against bicycles, electing Rob Ford in a landslide as their mayor. Toronto cyclists now fear for the future of their bike lanes. The aptly named Ford is on record as being anti-bike, and is one of those strange human beings who STILL don’t get the need for green thinking.
Some might say, unkindly, that given the looks of him, Rob Ford does not need to worry about the future of the planet, as he’s not going to see much of it. However, I think he just doesn’t care – from what I have seen of the video where Ford raves about bikes, it is all about the power for him. Watch for his most infamous line, quoted in the graphic below:
Rob Ford certainly is an odd choice, given that he has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence; been charged with uttering a death threat; and been charged with assault of his wife.
Lloyd Alter laments that the election of Rob Ford means that cyclists have lost their “war on the car.”
I have to respectfully disagree with that sentiment. First of all, if this was a war, then this is only a battle lost, not the entire war. Second of all, I think that’s the wrong metaphor. We cannot wage a war on the car. Because if we do, we are waging a war on motorists, and they hugely outnumber us!
It’s amusing to see that one of the commentators on Alter’s article actually seems to think she IS a car, as she takes “war on the car” to mean a war on her! While most people would not go quite that far, the reality is that motorists will fight for their right to drive. That’s understandable.
So I don’t want to frame it as an (unwinnable) war. I’d rather see it as an evolutionary process. As more and more people realize that the planet cannot sustain the kind of environmental lunacy that is typified by one tiny person transporting herself in a 5,700 pound car (as in the case of the woman who killed cyclist Nancy Pettigrew and didn’t even notice), more and more people will start to consider alternative transportation.
Already we have an upcoming generation where not everyone sees learning to drive as an inevitable rite of passage. And as fuel supplies get lower, and the climate changes and polar ice caps continue to melt, and weather patterns become more erratic, the currently very slow movement towards greener choices will speed up, IMHO. Hope to hell I’m right …
In the meantime, my sincere condolences to Toronto cyclists. Makes me appreciate Gregor all the more!
Disappointing to say the least. This guy is truly a lowest common denominator politician. I love the bit where he says that cyclists are at fault if they’re getting killed in the street.
We did OK in Waterloo Region Municipal Elections. Some of the best candidates for cycling issues were incumbents who were re-elected. Arguably, the best person to champion sustainable living did not win the Mayoralty, but at least we didn’t get stuck with someone as scary as Ford.
Glad to hear things are better in Waterloo. Here in Vancouver we are privileged to have a strongly pro-bike mayor, Gregor Robertson. He even rides a bike himself! 🙂
The war for the past 60 years have been on everything BUT cars. Is getting a little bit of space for bikes on the road too much to ask? Is putting more money into public transit that awful?
After all we ‘wisely’ spend hundreds of millions each year just to maintain roads because of the destruction cars, trucks & buses cause. (remember, Ford wants to get rid of the Streetcars in Toronto & replace them with more buses).
I was wondering if all the “pro-Ford” talk leading up to the election would spill out into the surrounding cities. Fortunately it doesn’t appear so.
Ottawa elected someone who appears to be very pro-bike.
Here in St. Catharines, we kept the same mayor who is decent when it comes to bikes (he supports getting people out of cars but has made some blunders when it comes to bike lanes). Many of our councilors are very pro-bike…To be honest no one who was running was against bikes or bike lanes.
Keep in mind with St. Catharines, the mindset is still here that this is a G.M. town.
I tend to criticize my generation and the upcoming one for so many stupid things we/they do, however I am happy that we are starting to shun cars in favour of walking, biking and transit. (one reason why I support high speed trains)
When I turned 16 I taught myself how to ride a bike (never wanted to learn when I was younger). Still don’t have a drivers license and have zero interest in getting one…Well I would only get one strictly as ID. Health card can only go so far since it doesn’t have my address on it.
Ryan, as a member of the “older” generation, I am so happy to see guys like you coming up – gives me hope for the future 🙂
I have a daughter who is 19 and has zero interest in driving – she gets around on transit just fine. I hope all my kids turn out like her.
Happy to hear that the poison seems not to be spreading all over Ontario.
We have a real range in ages of people who commute by bike here. Daily I see people ranging from 4 to 70 (maybe even older) on a bike.
If I lived in a city such as Vancouver then I wouldn’t mind using transit occasionally. From what I’ve seen I really like the skytrain system. I had a bad experience with our transit here and haven’t use it since. I actually find it faster to bike anyways. Size wise St. Catharines is pretty small. It’s only about 15 km from the North-west end of the city (where I live) to the south-east end. Very easy to get around.
Even here in Vancouver it is often faster to bike. The skytrain is GREAT – but it goes around in a circle. If you want to go in a line across the circle, it is usually better to bike.
Hello 😀 Is it alright if I go a bit off topic? I am trying to read your blog on my Mac but it doesn’t display properly, do you have any suggestions? Thank you for the help I hope! Dung x 🙂
I read it from a mac using Safari (and sometimes Firefox) and it works for me. Are you on a different browser?
There was some good news for cyclists in Ontario. Take a look at Ottawa’s new mayor Jim Watson’s 10 point cycling plan. http://www.jimwatson.ca/cycling-en
And they have a better hockey team.
bentguy, thanks for that news – I wrote about it in my Post tonight!