Hideouswhitenoise, Issue 29, Winter 1996
by Guido
It has been an especially hard year for pedestrians and cyclists. There have been too many horrible accidents; people run down, crushed, heads smashed in, legs ripped off. All dead, maimed and crippled because of those horrible machines and their carbon burning engines.
By the time you read this article, more then seventy people will have died because of the automobile in Metro. To get a up to date body count check out the front window of Police Headquarters at 40 College St. There is a display with the death count in big letters and a plea to buckle up. It makes them look like they are doing something, but they arenıt. They would rather park in a bike lane then do something about the number one killer of youth in North America.
Its not just the police, it is everybody and it is everywhere. The police react to the publicıs outrage. If the public is upset about dogs crapping in the park, they react, if cyclists are killed, they crack down on cyclists. They donıt take the initiative.
Automobiles kill. They kill more people in Metro than are murdered. You would think this number would push politicians into action, but they donıt care because like everyone else, they are part of the problem. Automobiles produce millions of pounds of pollution a year. The smog makes living in Toronto, especially during the summer time, intolerable. A car runs a red at Dufferin and St. Clair, gets broadsided and plows into a bus shelter filled with people. One dead, a mother crippled. The driver receives a $300.00 fine. Seven cyclists in Metro, five in Toronto alone are crushed, pulverized, run down. No charges are laid. No one gives a shit.
If any other product had killed so many people, it would have been taken off the market a long time ago. Citizen groups would have been formed to pressure government to change laws, like they did with cigarette smoking. You take one hit from a cigarette, you get dizzy. You take a hit from an automobile, you get dead.
The addiction to the personal automobile is far more epidemic. The whole population seems to be addicted and that is why no seems to think there is a problem. Except for those who work outside all day, or choose to commute by bicycle, or rollerblade, or walk. Government will do nothing about these horrible machines, so it is up to us.
You donıt have to write your elected official, but it would be nice. When your standing by, find out what ward you live in and phone the man. Demand a car free downtown. Demand enforced bike lanes.
Something you can do and its good for you is never give up your bike, do not give into the dark side. Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike. Walk, rollerblade anything but get into one of those stinking coffins.
And if you think that the fight is futile, if you think doing some of the above is a waste of time then just think of one thing. If ten years ago someone would have told you that cigarette smoking in bars and restaurants would be outlawed, you would have thought them crazy. But its happening. Anything is possible. And if you still donıt think its possible, then get lost punk, we donıt need your type around here.
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