Any cycling issues can be related back to pedestrian issues. We are indeed self-powered cousins. Even car drivers have to eventually walk, if only through a parking lot. Which is all to say, we need to have a way that we can all get around safely on foot.

Our bipedal evolution to this day has been pretty fascinating, but with the advent of cars, and then a growing and aggressive car culture that built up around the motor vehicle, well, we are faced with a legacy that makes walking dangerous, and at times, ridiculously so.

Take this one example. I walk down Dundurn Street north from my home to go to the plaza for groceries. Instead of walking directly across King on the west side of Dundurn, due to an absence of a crosswalk I am forced to cross Dundurn to the east, then King, then again across Dundurn to the west side. Three-stage crossing involving fourteen lanes of live traffic.

I recorded the return trip on my phone here:

There is no reason for King Street to be five, then six lanes wide here. It encourages high-speed traffic (and this is why Hamilton Police can almost daily be seen doing radar further west) and means that it is unsafe to stand on the corners or near the roadway, and to simply cross the street.

This kind of intersection is found in many places in the city, and really is a discouragement to walking, which is a mode of getting around the city is supposed to be prioritizing.

I know this blog is about cycling, mostly, but this situation just speaks to the lack of concern for those of us (and deters others) who choose walking, cycling, and transit to get around.