Raise the Hammer

I understand that you have had a number of near misses on Cannon Street, and while I am empathetic to your plight, I am going to reference Hanlon's Razor "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

The motoring public is inherently dumb, and as an avid cyclist myself, whether or not I had the right of way in a traffic accident wouldn't change the fact that I was now permanently injured, or worse in a collision. It is up to you, as a cyclist to ride defensively and actively avoid dangerous situations; not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because it is your longevity at stake. The police don't take your calls seriously because frankly nothing happened. In practice, police do not punish drivers for a near miss.

You also noted with a typical flair for the dramatic that the current 10 year rolling average for motor vehicle fatalities in Hamilton is 19.2. What you failed to mention, referenced in that same article that 2013 saw 15 fatalities and so far in 2014 we have seen 12 traffic fatalities. the breakdown for 2013 (from your article) is as follows:

6 pedestrians 4 alcohol related 4 collisions related to speed

2013 was also tied (with 2008) for the lowest number of traffic related deaths in over 10 years with 2014 to be even lower. 2014 source stating 12 to date:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/n...

Finally your "Statistic" that I have seen you mention numerous times in previous comments that "94 people per year in Hamilton are poisoned and killed by drivers" The report you have cited and linked mentioned 338 premature deaths in the "Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area" which, per Google has a total population of 8.6 million people. Looking at the numbers, something didn't add up, so I checked the math. As of the 2011 census, Hamilton has a population of 519,949, making up only 6% of the GTHA population (519,949/8,600,000)*100%. Respecting our share (6%) of the traffic "premature deaths" sit at 20 per annum. What you also fail to realize is that involves ALL premature deaths including traffic accidents, so you've effectively double dipped. Further to that, your linked article is a "highlights report" I would like to see a real scientific study which reinforces your viewpoint with actual hard data.

Also, keep in mind only 28% of greenhouse gasses are caused by transportation. Would you like to live without electricity? agriculture? And I know it's a dirty word, but industry is required to keep this planet turning too. Whether or not we should be changing it for the future, these are the realities that we're faced with now.

2011 Hamilton Census data: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recens...

EPA on greenhouse gas sources: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemis...