You can set your watch by it. Whether it’s Lynn Valley, the Lonsdale corridor or east of the Seymour, every time a municipality adds infrastructure to make cycling a safe and welcoming option, it releases a torrent of blowback from some in the community.
Almost always, the basis of the complaint is that the roadway is now less convenient for drivers. But the stakes for people riding bikes on our streets are much higher. A concrete barrier could be the difference between life and death. And the people who are commuting without carbon, keeping themselves healthy, and having a bit of fun in the process deserve to come home safe to their families at the end of the day too.
We all need to look at our streets as not the exclusive turf of drivers in single-occupancy vehicles but as parts of an overall transportation system that includes many modes of travel. Recognizing that we are among the most car-dependent communities in Metro Vancouver, our three municipalities all have a goal of getting more people out of cars. Without a safe and connected routes, we will never see that change and we will be stuck with a status quo that we know is not sustainable.
When weighing the lives of one group using our public infrastructure against the convenience of another, there should be no question which side we should support with public policy.
Having these knock-down, drag-out fights every time we make these necessary and overdue changes is a waste of our energy.
And we still have many miles to go.
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