MB Toronto
Morning Brew: Deadly shooting on College Street, bike helmets should be mandatory, Fords finish "Waist" challenge, Humber islands, and a parking win
Police are hunting a man they say is responsible for a deadly shooting yesterday afternoon at an ice-cream parlor on College Street. One person was killed when a lone gunman dressed as a construction worker opened fire around around 3:30pm, sending soccer fans running for cover. The incident is the latest violent attack in a year that's already seen an increased amount of gun crime.
A report from Ontario's chief coroner says bike helmets and side guards for heavy trucks should be mandatory to help reduce the number of road deaths in the province. 73% of the cyclists examined in the study were not wearing a helmet at the time of their death, but some cycling advocacy groups feel a helmet law would discourage new riders climbing into the saddle. This is a tough one. But, really, why not wear one? They don't even look particularly dorky anymore.
Well, it's all over, and Rob Ford says he could have done better in his "Cut the Waist" challenge as he weighed in at 313 lbs yesterday, down 17 lbs from his start weight. Doug Ford fared a little better - dropping 25 lbs - since the pair started the challenge in January. The mayor appeared to twist his ankle as he stepped down awkwardly from the scales.
Environmental groups are concerned that the quality of soil excavated from the Eglinton LRT project could be unsuitable for use in the Humber river mouth to create a small group of artificial islands. Toronto Water, however, says there's no reason to be believe the deep soil has been contaminated with petrol or other pollutants.
Can you imagine the sounds of Toronto's streets played by an orchestra? The squeal and glide of the streetcar, the rumble of the subway, and the swish of cars from the Gardiner could all be worked into a new piece by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra - and you can add your own suggestions.
Props to Toronto from the fun folks at the International Parking Institute! Lot C146 at Broadview and Gerrard - home to the Zhong Hua Men Archway - has won an Award of Excellence for its decorative feature.
And finally, there's a heat and humidity advisory in effect for Toronto today. The temperature is supposed to reach 34 this afternoon and it could feel like 42 with the humidity factored in. Stay cool, Toronto, stay cool.
GUESS THE INTERSECTION:
See if you can pick out where this picture was taken. Name both streets in the comments section, if you can.
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Blue Jays come up short in 7-6 loss to Milwaukee Brewers [The Star]
- Radiohead stage collapse: Four companies asked to comply with investigation [The Star]
- Luka Magnotta to appear in Montreal court today [CBC]
- Drabek to have surgery, out for remainder of season [CTV]
- It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Steve 'Spidey' Murray [National Post]
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Photo: "Last Picnic" by syncros in the blogTO Flickr Pool.
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Dumbest argument ever. More to kill?
Helmets should be mandatory, especially as a new rider.
I've never understood why so many cyclists on the roads are not wearing helmets. It doesn't even have to be a car cutting you off, but if something were to cause you to lose balance and you hit your head, you could easily die if you hit it the wrong place. I say make it a law.
Cryyyyy me a river, advocacy groups! It's new riders ESPECIALLY who should be wearing helmets.
Did anyone see the 24 hrs headline for that story? "Hit Mafia Related?" (paraphrasing). I didn't get to read the story, but if the mafia angle was just because it was in Little Italy, that's hilarious.
I bet 100% of pedestrians killed by cars were not wearing helmets at the time...
People who know "Little Johnny" have indicated he most likely doid have ties to organized crime and is a "well known" person in the Italian community.
Has nothing to do with the fact they happened to be in Little Italy.
Many reports show the best thing to improve cyclists' safety is proper infrastructure (bike lanes, signs, etc.), education of both drivers and cyclists, and increasing numbers of cyclists (ridership).
Finally, note this is not 'pro helmet' vs, 'anti helmet.' Many argue that people should wear a helmet if they want - but it should not be mandatory, as they cite research that shows mandatory helmet laws decrease ridership which decreases safety.
http://bicyclesafe.com/helmets.html
they're hot (and uncomfortable)
they ruin your hair (and in some cases won't fit over your hair)
they're a hassle to deal with when you're not riding
they ruin your peripheral vision.
The article throws out a lot of statistics, but IMO leaves out the most important one:
Of the cyclist that were killed and weren't wearing helmuts, how many of them would have been saved if they had been wearing helmuts?
My guess: not many
The research associating decreased ridership after helmets are made mandatory mainly comes from places where ridership was already low; legally having to wear a helmet is just one more discouraging factor on top of poor/absent bike infrastructure, lack of established cycling culture and generally crappy attitudes towards cycling.
There's no point saying 100 people scraped their knees and 75 of them weren't wearing helmuts, so we should make helmuts mandatory.
The real question is "Do helmuts really help?". Probably a little, but enough to justify them being compulsory? not sure
Helmut = name
Helmet = head covering
Sorry, just a spelling peeve
http://goo.gl/maps/t8Bb
But, you're still an idiot if you don't wear a helmet when using a bike on roads. Dedicated lanes or not.
Seriously, helmets are an impediment to new riders because it "ruins your hair"?! WTF.
So far out of the people commenting, one person didn't want to carry a helmet around everywhere when using their Bixi subscription, and another didn't want to ruin their hair/it's hot/annoying when not riding/and ruins their peripheral vision. I'm not sure about the bike helmets that you've seen, but how does it ruin your peripheral vision?
And just because it isn't as slippery in the summer as it is the winter, doesn't mean you shouldn't wear a helmet. A bump in the road can throw you off your bike regardless of the season.
Your chances of getting hit by a car increase when crossing the street. Is it fair to call people stupid for crossing the street?
I mean if you get into an accident on a bike it seems much more likely you'll just break your neck, which a helmet won't help with anyway.
My argument wasn't "it doesn't look cool" I think people look perfectly cool wearing helmets. my argument was "it's uncomfortable"
Your preferences may vary, and that's fine. But after seeing that crash, I'm happy to put my own head in a protective bucket out there on the mean streets.
My friend he no ride helmet. He married 2 children. He no care about risk him. He no care about risk to family if he accident. It him choice.
FYI to all the "pedestrians should wear helmets too then" people, pedestrians move a lot slower than bicyclists and don't have to worry about hitting a bad bump in the road or swerving to avoid something. When we have an accident it is with a car and it is much more likely we got hit in the midsection, crushed, or run-over than that we got hit in the head. So a helmet isn't going to do a whole lot there. If a bicyclist has an accident most likely they are thrown from their bike and their head will hit something much harder than it.
I sustained damage to the entire left side of my body and back, couldn't walk for a week and still require pain meds and physiotherapy for pain relief...but my head was saved by my helmet. The bike and the helmet were total write-offs, but my head was saved.
Why people won't wear helmets is beyond me.
A helmet is a good idea. A mandatory helmet law is a bad idea.
We probably wouldn't bother with helmets too if we had bike paths like this: http://goo.gl/maps/e0U8
Instead, I'll say the intersection is Pape and Langley ave, looking West down Langley.
Mandatory bike helmet laws don't make cyclists safer. They've never been demonstrated to have reduced injury or fatality rates. They HAVE reduced the amount of cyclists on the road, which makes the remaining cyclists less safe. "
This is soooooo f'ing stupid
There are half a dozen stories in this chain alone telling morons like you that a helmet saved their skulls.
Now here's where you prove that there are less cyclists on the road because of mandatory helmet laws.
We'll all wait right here.
I'm not necessarily saying with this comment that I like either of the Fords - in fact, I'm leaving my personal opinion about their politics completely out of this. It was admirable of them to do such a thing for the public, however I think it was a misguided media stunt which ended up getting them as much (or maybe more) bad press than good.
In summary, base you opinions of politicians based on politics.
It's Pape and Langley looking west. Matt S has it!
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