April 20, 2018 (Toronto, Ont.) – Patrick Brown is a cycling advocate, trial lawyer with McLeish Orlando LLP and founder of Bike Law Canada. He lives in Oakville and commutes to Toronto by a combination of Go Train and Specialized bicycle. Over the past couple decades, he has done more and more pro bono work for vulnerable road users, especially injured cyclists and has become a leading advocate for safe cycling infrastructure and legislation. Pedal recently spoke with Brown about what needs to be done to keep cyclists and pedestrians safe on city streets as Ontario NDP MPP Catherine Fife prepares to reintroduce Bill 158 Protecting Vulnerable Road Users Act in Queens Park.

How dangerous is cycling with current infrastructure, in the big cities of Canada such as Toronto?
Patrick Brown: It’s getting better, but it is still very dangerous at times. We are still seeing the statistics regarding injury and fatality rates increasing while each year, other road violence is going down. From a statistical standpoint, there is a large number of people in Ontario brought into the emergency department as a result of being hit on their bikes and right now it is not curved downward, it is in fact going up. There are more people using bikes, but at the same time it has a lot to do with a lack of infrastructure.

Is the province of Ontario and Toronto keeping up?
PB: For me, I’m most familiar with the city of Toronto and I think it certainly is taking proactive steps with regard to more infrastructure and making it a priority, moreso than it has before. But it is still moving at a slower pace compared to other major centres such as New York and London, and of course Scandinavia is leading the way.

What should be the focus?
PB: The government has done a lot of stuff, and put a lot of money into cycling with the Ontario Bike Strategy and Toronto’s Bike Plan including some good laws in relation to doorings. From that standpoint, there have been some good steps with cycling on the agenda, but at the same time they seem to ignore some glaring problems that people want to change, for instance they haven’t acted on things such as the Vulnerable Road User Act. I represent a coalition that has been fighting for this law for over three years and have met with the Minister of Transportation on a number of occasions.

Why didn’t the Act pass the first time?
PB: On the previous private members bill put forward by MPP Cheri Dinovo, the Legislature got prorogued so it died. And previous to that, there was a failed attempt to try and amend an existing government bill at a standing committee. This week, is the third attempt to get the government to pass the Vulnerable Road User Act that has been demanded by active transportation groups. There is a huge groundswell of people wanting this law, and we are hoping to get it through but it is unlikely. While it’s the right thing to do, and I hope they pass it I don’t know if it will succeed. Timing could be a thing too because of the upcoming election.

But it doesn’t seem like a political issue?
PB: I don’t see it as a partisan issue, I really don’t. It’s really a bill for road safety with increased penalties for a problem they know exists. It doesn’t really matter which party or who does it, I just want it done.

Tell us why this is so important.
PB: We’ve been trying to gather as many statistics as possible in relation to what happens when a cyclist or pedestrian is hit. I initiated what was called the Coroner’s Review on cycling and pedestrian deaths, and I served on behalf of a number of cycling groups during that one-year review. What became very apparent was when a cyclist was killed, about 62% of the time it would have been the driver’s fault, but very few – less than 23% – were ever charged. We found a repeated pattern that was striking. Either there were no charges, or if there was a charge, it resulted in a small fine. So we started gathering numerous examples from people I represented like Ryan Carrier, an illegal right hand turn by a truck on Queen and he was killed (in 2005) and the fine was $85. It repeated on and on and on. With the Vulnerable Road User Act, if you hit someone, there is an added penalty. In this case, the added penalty is not just a fine. For one, you get your licence suspended, and you have to take a driving course before getting back on the road. Secondly, there are community service hours in the area of road safety. And three, in court when the victim’s impact statement is read, you have to be present and you have to listen. These things don’t exist now. The big problem many groups have is that these deaths are treated like nothing. It’s just ridiculous and that’s what we want to change – we’d be the first province in Canada to do it.

What about the call for a national cycling strategy – how key is this?
PB: I think it’s a great thing. There are issues that are federal and pertain to all cyclists from B.C. to the East Coast and many changes do require a national voice. As an example, there has been a call for the last 20 years for side guards on trucks and it hasn’t happened – that’s Transport Canada. And to have a collective organization to push for something like that would be great. Then you get into all of the standards in relation to say vehicles coming into Canada and what can and cannot be on the road, again that’s also Transport Canada.

Cycling is increasing and if cities adopted safer networks how would this impact growth and commuting?
PB: Yes cycling is gaining in popularity and I do club rides as well with lots of people living on the outskirts and many would commute regularly if routes into the city were safer, absolutely. There’s a large percentage of riders who really want to commute to work by bike, say 25-30km, if they had a safe and direct route. The Waterfront Trail is great but less so for commuting as it’s a shared pathway with dogs and people. With more infrastructure for commuting I believe you’d see a big surge in people biking to and from work.

What are the spinoff benefits for the rest of the city?
PB: There are huge benefits such as better traffic flow. Some think otherwise, but most urban planners agree that if it is done well traffic flow will increase. Safer networks and supporting laws would mean statistics on the number of people being hit or killed would decrease. More people using active transportation on a regular basis is great for cities and the driving public as well who would have the utility of driving their cars without the fear of hitting someone. Those are all huge positives, not only on the health side of things, but for society at large. This is the direction major urban centres are going and should be going.

For Bike Law Canada click here.
For more information on Bill 158 The Vulnerable Road User Act click here and here.