Hi Everyone,
Please forgive me for sending another update so soon after the last one. I will try to keep these things to an absolute minimum, but this one is really important.
Yesterday I had a very productive conversation with Anna Hopkins (Councillor Ward 9) which I found both illuminating and encouraging. Anna informed me that the City of London is currently soliciting public feedback until Friday, January 31st concerning its Mobility Master Plan. (Please check out this link for more information.)
https://london.ca/living-london/roads-sidewalks-transportation/mobility-master-plan
The purpose of the MMP is to prepare London's mobility system for the growth that it expects to see over the next 25 years, so this really is a big deal. If we want to have our voices heard with respect to making our roads safer, NOW is the time to let our Councillors and the city staff know. If you cannot attend one of the meetings listed in the image above, I would invite you to open any of the interactive maps which you can find on the aforementioned website, put a pin on the location you are concerned about, and leave a comment expressing your concerns. Alternatively, you can reach out to your City Councillor.
Anna also informed me that if our community can continue to make this a big enough part of the public conversation, there is a good chance that the problem of hazardous driving can become an election issue as we enter into the next federal election and soon provincial election seasons. To this end, I would invite you to either call or write to your MPP and MP to let them know that enough is enough.
With respect to our MPs, we can request that as Transport Canada revises the D250 standard for bus manufacturing, they make infraction cameras mandatory on all new buses, as opposed to being optional, as the current plan has it. For more on this, please see the helpful link that our neighbour Jenny shared with us:
Finally, yesterday I also had an encouraging conversation with a London Police officer who works on the Traffic Management Unit. She informed me that officers have begun to patrol our streets more regularly, are now keenly aware of the extent of the problem, and have even started taking action.
Thanks for your patience and support, Rachel and I are parents of young children, not professional activists, so this sort of thing is new to us.
Charles Bakker