Women in Urbanism Canada Calls for Minister Sarkaria to Put the Brakes on Bill 212
Dear Minister Sarkaria,
We are writing to you with great concern about the proposed legislation: Bill 212, Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024. This legislation would have negative impacts on countless women, girls, and gender-diverse people navigating their communities by bicycle and other mobility devices. Women in Urbanism Canada strongly encourages you to put the brakes on this bill and invest in active transportation infrastructure for everyone.
Cycling Gender Gap
Canada’s first large-scale count of people cycling by gender, age, and race found that there were twice as many men cycling than women. Numerous studies on this gender gap have cited safety concerns as the number one reason women do not cycle and/or do not cycle as frequently as men. Research has shown that women may actually be at greater risk while cycling. A field experiment found that drivers were significantly more likely to pass a woman cycling within 3 feet than a man cycling, with 73% of the studies’ reported encroachments happening to women. Furthermore, this experiment found that passing distance was greatest on roads with protected bicycle facilities, with none of the reported encroachments occurring on the protected bike lane. In another study, women were found to be almost twice as likely as men to be the victims in ‘near miss’ incidents while cycling.
Gender-Inclusive Mobility
Women already face unequal access to transportation options, as they are less likely than men to own a personal vehicle or to travel by car. Supporting more women to cycle and travel by other sustainable means helps to reduce congestion, saves families money, and supports local businesses.
This proposed legislation would not help to address this cycling gender gap, but would instead expand it further. If the bill slows down, stops, or even goes as far as reversing the implementation of cycling infrastructure, this would cause significant harm to people of all ages, races, and genders, and would be most harmful to those who already face transportation barriers.
We hope you’ll reconsider how this bill would impact women, and everyone else, before you hit the gas on this dangerous legislation.
