The city’s elected officials have done it again.
They, of all people, know the city is only going to grow, which means more traffic. Instead of finding ways to speed up travel by motor vehicles, they find ways to hinder it.
We have the so called “calming lanes,” which any one that drives a vehicle knows are a hindrance — hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on 39th Street east of 30th Avenue, where the said the barricades erected are only temporary and are to be removed once the trees mature. Well, the type of trees they put in will take another 20 years to be of any value for the purpose they were planted.
Now we have the bike lanes, which are another bad move on council’s part. They should have sent out someone to spend the day on 39th and 55th streets, as well as others places where they put bike lanes, to count the number of vehicles and bicycles using these roadways.
The number of people riding bicycles to work, etc. is very minimal, and then you have to take into account the number of days a person can ride a bike in any given year in this city. If they did do a count, they haven’t told us or given any stats on it.
Cold fall days are fast approaching, and then winter.
How many bicycles will be ridden during the next several months, and yet the bike lanes will be there all during this time. If there is an accident between a vehicle and a bike on a snow-covered road, who will be at fault as you won’t be able to see the markings?
The idea of bike lanes sounds good but is not practical the way it was done here.
I am sure you will see the few that do ride bikes will be on the sidewalk.
I can only think of the horror when there is a very serious accident between a vehicle and a bike, especially when one of them is making a turn. Even if the cyclist is in the right, that won’t help that person’s injuries.
It is time for council to listen to the people and make changes to this plan, which should have been more thought-out before spending our valued tax dollars on it. So here we go again, with a few dictating laws for the many and council not doing their homework.
Al Coker
Red Deer