The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation has released two new reports on the state of active transport in Toronto.

The first report, titled "Benchmarking Active Transportation in Canadian Cities," compared active transport in Toronto to other cities in Canada, the United States and Europe. Among other things, the study found that cities with more kilometres of bicycle facilities have a higher active transportation mode share, and that these cities have a lower percentage of cyclist and pedestrian injuries and deaths. In essence: more active transport, fewer relative injuries and deaths.

Kevin Behan, lead author of the report, said Toronto needs to improve conditions for cyclists, noting that "the City has yet to create one kilometre of on-street bike lanes physically separated from motorized traffic." If only there was a (still-in-the-running) mayoral candidate proposing such an initiative...

The second report, called "Building Better Cycling Arteries in Cities: Lessons for Toronto," looked at how to integrate cycling on arterial roads, comparing case studies from Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Portland, New York City and Berlin. Both reports can be downloaded from the TCAT website.