Wayne Scott, ex-courier and ex-cycling ambassador, fought and won an eighteen year battle with Revenue Canada over counting courier food as tax deductible fuel. Now he is taking on the City of Toronto to have the Ontario Labour Relations Board to declare Toronto's city streets as safety hazards. Since the same employer that employed him as a Cycling Ambassador in 2005 is also responsible for the state of our streets, Scott figured he had a good case. I worked alongside Scott in 2005 and can attest to the hot, muggy, polluted summer with traffic jams - just like most Toronto summers. I hope Scott can make a difference in improving safety or at embarrass us all at the poor quality of our streets, though its more immediate result may be the City becoming much more careful about the skill level and safety equipment that employees are required to have. The alternative may just be too politically difficult at this time.
On Monday, city officials said they didn't know how many employees use bikes on the job, but police, EMS workers and bylaw officers are among those who cycle on duty.
They run the same risk as any cyclist or bike courier of having a car door opened suddenly in their path or being hit at an intersection. That's because the rules of the road are poorly enforced and the city is years behind on completing its own bike plan, contends Scott, who retired from the courier business about four years ago.
The fact he has worked for the city himself – as a cycling ambassador during the summer of 2005 – doesn't affect the legitimacy of his argument, he said.
"The city and everyone tells us we should be biking, but that's all they do – they tell us to do it and then they toss us out in the meat grinder of the system they have in place," Scott said.
City employees would be unlikely to challenge their employer at the labour board, said environmental lawyer Albert Koehl, who will represent Scott at a pre-hearing settlement meeting at the labour board Tuesday.
"If the city were actually doing what it says it wants to be doing, which is making cycling more accessible to people, then we wouldn't be here. But it seems quite clear to us that the city is not even doing the things they've talked about doing," said Koehl.
The city's 2001 bike plan called for 500 kilometres of bike lanes by 2011. With only 112 kilometres in place, the deadline is now 2012.
The lack of infrastructure and safety means the city isn't benefiting from opportunities it could grasp if more city workers were encouraged to bike – everyone from parking enforcement officers to executives who travel downtown to meetings, Koehl said.
"Think about a construction worker on Bloor St.: There are signs, barriers, police officers. All of that is to protect vulnerable workers from cars. The same thing when you have cyclists – cars might have fender benders, cyclists have body benders," he said.
Comments
Marvin (not verified)
Toronto Streets a Job Hazard
Wed, 11/25/2009 - 12:52Whether Toronto streets might be a job hazard is an interesting legal question; the fact they are dangerous for cyclists is undisputed.
Last week my son Eric, was struck by a car while cycling on Dupont. Fortunately he sustained only a broken toe on his left foot, an injury to his wrist and other bruises and contusions. His helmet was seriously damaged and saved his head from making direct contact with the pavement - but for that fact his injuries would have been much worse.
His bike was mangled beyond repair.
Eric, was east bound on Dupont and the driver, making a left from westbound lanes of Dupont didn't see him. The collision threw Eric over the hood of the car and onto the pavement sending the bike flying across the street.
Eric rides his bike to and from work daily along Dupont and Dundas. As a driver and a cyclists myself I fully understand the problems and hazards on both sides of the issue. However, the danger to cyclists from drivers is clear and obvious. In any such collision the cyclist is fully exposed and at greatest peril from injury or death.
In the early 1970's I was hired by the borough of Etobicoke to create a report on the possible location and cost and viability of interlinking bike paths through the borough. In my research I uncovered earlier studies which had been done some years before. The study contained extensive engineering guidelines and route proposals.
There was a ton of data about interlinking pathways across all the boroughs and bike lanes on many major streets. It seemed in fact that these various proposals were fairly ambitious.
I haven't lived in Toronto for years and have lost touch with the cycling community there. From the nature of comments I've read, here and elsewhere, I wonder how many of these original proposals across the city were implemented?
In the 70's rider safety was a major concern and, from what learned, that still seems to be the case. I'm wondering now if over all these years there has been a concerted effort to make cycling in the city more accessible and safer or if such things are not high priorities. I'll be curious to know if Wayne Scott is successful home much effect it might have on changing things?
I for one will be watching this case with interest
skeptical_of_peel (not verified)
Wayne Scott is right you know.
Wed, 11/25/2009 - 16:29God willing he will win this fight.
kiwano
I wonder if the city
Thu, 11/26/2009 - 22:27I wonder if the city requiring all its employees-on-bikes to be CAN-BIKE certified will enable it to claim something to the effect of "yes the workplace has hazards, but the employees have been suitably trained to manage those hazards" and leave it at that. It might also have to bring up WSIB stats on how much these suitably trained employees have been injured in spite of their training, but I have a hunch that they'll be able to just shrug this one off.
OTOH, this could end up being interesting in conjunction with the CUPW union drive for couriers. If CUPW plays its cards right, it could use such an argument to insist that couriers need to be paid to take CAN-BIKE courses as on-the-job workplace safety training. Having that requirement in place would probably induce the messenger companies to improvie their working conditions a little just so that they can retain the investment they've made training their employees.