NarrativeBear
Look out for power lines
This right here, “the second lane was always blocked with parked cars.” Pretty much sums up most of Toronto’s city streets. The second lane (or far right lane) is usually unusable because of parked or stopped cars.
And as soon as a side walk gets widened or a bike lane goes in to use the space more efficiently motorists looses their shit.
Bloor has really become more enjoyable as a street, and easier to traverse by car, bike and on foot.
Maybe just Ontario? Though there does seem to be a common recurring theme in Canada these last few decades where its easier to not take action and say we tried everything, rather then taking action and solve problems.
Its always easier to take no action and not upset one group or another, zero-sum game, as opposed to take action and have a small group upset at the end result.
In both cases the Canadian in charge of the action, or inaction, says “Sorry, eh”.
This whole removal of bike lanes on Toronto’s roadways that are classified as streets is so backwards.
Streets are for the people that live on them. Streets are a destination points.Roads are designed to get you from point a to point b. Roads are not a destination and don’t care about the community they cut through.
We are removing key infrastructure in our cities that directly supports the residents living within these areas, and replacing it to serve suburban commuters that live outside the city.
We need to make city centres more enjoyable and walkable. We need to make city centres more accessible to families. Having people move out of the city and commute into it everyday is the opposite of this. We need more choice in housing sizes and units layouts, we need more schools that are not at capacity.
There needs to be a greater push in how North America classifies its roadways. There are key differences between streets, roads, high-speed roads, highways, and interstates. All these classifications impact how these roadways serve the people around them, and how people use them. For example you would not put a sidewalk next to a highway car lane.
Instead these last few decades its been either “strode’s” or highway. In some cases even strode’s acting as highways as well.
Mad Men the picnic scene.
Littering wasn’t a concern back then. When Don casually tossed the can aside, I was astonished and confused. Then to make matters worse, Betty shakes off the rubbish from the picnic blanket onto the ground before heading to the car. Not a care in the world at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roREnVhd_og
Try to do the same today and a park would be filled with plastic wrappers in a few days.
Something similar was done in Japan for walking and texting (or looking at your phone screen). Makes sense the same would translate to all modes of transportation including cars.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200810-yamato-japan-smartphone-ban-while-walking
Though, jail time may be a little harse for communicating with people over a phone.