Jul. 7, 2004. 01:00 AM

Court ruling won't curb bike routes, city claims
Cyclist awarded $4,500 in lawsuit

Improper signage at fault, judge says

BRUCE DEMARA
CITY HALL BUREAU

A court judgment that assigned the City of Toronto 25 per cent of the blame for a 2002 cycling accident won't deter plans to create 1,000 kilometres of connected bicycling routes across the city.

"Certainly this ruling won't affect our commitment to providing new bicycle lanes on streets where we can do that," said Daniel Egan, Toronto's manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.

In a recent oral ruling, a small claims court judge awarded Hannah Evans $4,500 in damages, plus some legal costs, with 25 per cent — or $1,125 — of it assigned to the city. She was struck by a car door while cycling along Queen St. W. near John St.

City spokesperson Brad Ross said the city's legal department is awaiting a copy of the written decision before deciding whether to appeal.

Lawyer Tim Gleason, acting for the plaintiff, said the court found the city had provided an "unsafe infrastructure" for cyclists in assessing it a share of the liability in the case.

Street signs identifying a portion of Queen St. W. as a designated biking route should have been removed since the route had been decommissioned for use of cyclists at the time of the accident. The signs had the effect of "luring" the plaintiff to use the road, Gleason said.

Egan acknowledged a few signs along the route remained that should have been removed when it was decommissioned in 1993.

Following the accident, those signs and others along other decommissioned bike lanes in the city were taken down, he said.

Egan said that after amalgamation, the new city put together and adopted an ambitious plan to create 1,000 kilometres for the use of cyclists, including designated bicycle routes, shared roadway routes on lightly travelled, low-speed local streets, and trails along the waterfront, through parks, and on hydro and rail corridors.

"We're probably 50 years behind places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. We're moving in the right direction," Egan said.

Councillor Olivia Chow (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), former chair of the city cycling committee, said she hopes the incident doesn't have an impact on the bicycle route plan, which she noted is behind schedule.

"We are now ... slightly behind in our implementation of the bike plan. There's absolutely no reason why there aren't more bike lanes," Chow said. "It just needs a bit more focusing by staff and the politicians."