September 14, 2018 (Hamilton, ON) – Greg’s Ride on Sept. 23 is the only bike ride in Ontario supporting cycling advocacy with 100% of the profits going towards this cause. Back in 2006 OPP Sergeant Greg Stobbart was killed while cycling on Tremaine Road in Milton and his wife Eleanor McMahon founded the Share the Road Cycling Coalition in his memory to advocate for safer roads for all Ontarians. Read her blog below commemorating the 13th annual ride in Greg’s honour, taking place in the Hamilton region on Sunday, Sept. 23 – sign up today and help their advocacy efforts to make Ontario the safest place in Canada to ride a bike – register here – more Share the Road here.

 

The 13^th Annual Greg’s Ride in Support of the Share the Road Cycling Coalition

When I was Executive Director at the Share the Road Cycling Coalition, I spent a good amount of my time on education, awareness and promotion activities.

Building a province wide cycling policy and advocacy organization was at times, heavy lifting. Travelling across Ontario (talk about planes, trains and automobiles!) and North America to meet with cycling organizations, grass roots community leaders, law enforcement partners, decision and policy makers, and politicians was sometimes tiring work — and tough slogging.

Especially early on when we had to change so many minds and hearts, when we had to educate, persuade, cajole, twist arms, mobilize — and just flat out talk (a lot!) to so many people. Remember the “war on the car” days? We’ve worked hard to lessen the impact of that polarizing statement — and we’ve worked hard to de-politicize cycling. This took time, resources and a good deal of persistence.

I guess you could say I was motivated by a pretty significant, life changing event. Losing your best friend and life partner has a way of doing that to you. Senseless tragedy is often at the root of significant change — and it acts as singular motivation. It was certainly the case for me. And my passion for changing the way people — especially decision makers —thought about cycling was at the root of it all.

In the 12 years since we lost my late husband OPP Sergeant Greg Stobbart we have worked together to build a cycling movement across Ontario, raise funds, change the Highway Traffic Act — 3 times in fact — convince legislators and policy makers in the largest province in the country that cycling matters (Coroner’s Review of Cycling Deaths, 2012 and Ontario Cycling Strategy, 2013) and secure the largest investment in cycling infrastructure in Ontario’s history — $100M in 2017. A life changing, game changing investment that will change lives for years to come.

More recently in December 2017 the Ontario legislature passed changes to the Highway Traffic Act creating the toughest Careless Driving laws in Canada and two brand new charges: Careless Driving Cause Death and Careless Driving Cause Bodily Harm. I was honoured to tabled these changes as a Private Members Bill in 2016 and they were subsequently adopted into a government Bill. On a very personal note, the desire for this change came directly from Greg’s case: the man who took his life received a suspended sentence and 100 hours of community service on his Careless Driving conviction.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, for the first time, road user vulnerability will be a factor in sentencing — because the judge will now have the ability to ensure that motorists who drive carelessly — and who’s carelessness kills or injures a cyclist or pedestrian will be subject to greater penalties. So why Careless Driving? Because it’s the charge officers use in the vast majority of cycling/pedestrian collisions and as Greg’s case demonstrated, the penalties weren’t high enough. I’m grateful to Share the Road, OPP Staff Sgt. Brett Carson and our friends at the CAA for their advocacy and support for this historical changes which came into force on September 1^st.

So how exactly how do these changes come about? It’s a great question. How does a provincial not for profit, with a small but mighty professional staff and a dedicated Board of Directors accomplish such important advances that are the envy of the country — and have policy and decision makers looking at Ontario as an example of progress?

Two words. Hard work. Two more words: determined advocacy. Finally, two more: generous donors.

The dictionary definition of advocacy is “an activity by an individual or group which aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions”.

I find that the concept of advocacy is largely mis-understood perhaps because most people are unclear as to how “government” works and therefore unclear on how to change and influence decisions. And that’s fair — it can be intimidating and it can feel complicated.

And so I sometimes hear people say — so what does Share the Road do? What does effective cycling advocacy look like? It involves being a good partner to government, because government regulates cycling, regulates our roads and our transportation networks.

And so ensuring that we mobilize support for cycling in the policy and the political arena starts with mobilizing public support, and leveraging that to build the case for political support. Tools of the trade? Data (polling) and evidence. It also means ensuring our voices — the people who support cycling (happily these are growing in number!) are heard, to ensure that the people writing our laws and policies understand the importance and the benefits of cycling.

In short, we all know cycling matters — but in the last 10 years we’ve seen a sea change in legislator thinking about this fact and it has been the persistent advocacy of the Share the Road team, that has been instrumental in this transformation.

The work to develop relationships with policy and decision makers, to establish partnerships with organizations respected by government so that you can build your credibility — and therefore enhance your impact on behalf of the entire cycling community — requires a steadied, focused and professional approach. It takes years to do, and in the end, if you do it well you build a lasting foundation for continued support.

Calvin Coolidge said that persistence and determination are omnipotent, and he was right.

When Share the Road Executive Director Jamie Stuckless talks to government Ministers, Deputy Ministers, senior officials and Members of Provincial Parliament from all sides of the aisle, she carries the voices of the millions of Ontario cyclists with her. Her reputation for effective and professional advocacy on all of our behalf has led to meaningful change.

Now to those final two words. Generous donors. Every year Share the Road hosts — what else? — a Ride, where we get on our bikes, enjoy each other’s company and enjoy some good food too. It’s called Greg’s Ride, in memory of my late husband who loved nothing more than to ride his bike in the company of good friends.

The proceeds from the Ride fund the work of Jamie and the Share the Road team so they can continue making progress on our behalf.

Persistence and determination. There is no replacement for either of these. So please be a generous donor. Join us on September 23^rd in support of both by here.

If you can’t be there here — so that even if we don’t spend a single moment advocating, we can fund the vital work of the people who do.

Eleanor McMahon, Founder Share the Road Cycling Coalition