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"Of course, every driver was one mistake from being a rogue driver, unless the victim could be blamed."

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 157)

By 1953, there was abundant evidence to demonstrate that the "safe motorcar" was a myth, and that calls to greater care, courtesy, and law-abiding conduct would not eliminate road casualties. For decades, civic leaders had repeated exhortations to motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists for more careful conduct on the roads, and when these pleas inevitably failed, simply repeated them with greater fervour, much like preachers admonishing their flock to "sin no more."

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 152)

Blaming children for acting like children or blaming parents for failing to prevent their children from acting like children - was a safe bet for politicians, even if the absurdity only helped ensure more grief. Blaming parents merely added to the burden of guilt they were forced to carry for crashes involving their children but at least comforted other parents with the ilusion that their children would be safe. Constant vigilance by parents, however, was no more realistic than perfect behaviour by motorists.

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 146)

Ironically, while motorcars were celebrated for the freedom and independence that they gave adults, they took it away, without apology, from children and youth.

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 144)

Ironically, while motorcars were celebrated for the freedom and independence that they gave adults, they took it away, without apology, from children and youth.

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 144)

For Gardiner, Metro's ravines and valleys were an untapped resource for arterial roads. Even the popular waterfront Sunnyside amusement park, "the poor man's Riviera," was getting in the way of the motorcar commuter. Sunnyside was demolished in 1955 to make way for the Lakeshore (now Gardiner) Expressway, its main offence that it sat "astride the most important traffic artery of the entire City." Although Metro's ravines were generally protected from development by assertive parks departments in Metro and the city, the Don Valley Ravine was not spared from the building of the Don Valley Parkway. In theory, expressways would protect cyclists and pedestrians by taking cars off local roads, except that motorists inevitably exited the expressways and filled city roads.

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 130 - 131)

Motorists nonetheless had defenders at Queen's Park, including CCM's Tommy Russell, elected to the provincial Parliament in 1908 while he was also OML president. MPP E.B. Ryckman grumbled about the farmer who refused to get out of the Way "who consigned you to the ditch, who laughed and jeered at you, who gave you the merry ho ho." When the Province of Prince Edward Island instituted a ban on motorcars in 1909 (although there were only ten cars at the time), Ryckman called on OML members to boycott the province on their summer excursions. At its 1909 meeting, the OML, bending to public hostility, nonetheless updated its traditional slogan calling for good roads by adding the phrase "and sane use of them."

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 78)

October 4, 1910 - A knight on his silent steed A robust, elderly gentleman arrives in the early morning at the east doors of the provincial Parliament, parks his bicycle, adjusts his cap, and heads off to his second-floor office. The man, whose youthful vigour belies his sixty-seven years, has occupied his current post since 1905 a precarious job dependent on the fickle affections of the public. At the moment, how- ever, the man is liked well enough for today's Daily Star to greet his return from England, with, "Sir James Whitney is on the job. Ontario is safe once more." S Whitney is not only the premier, but a knight to his majesty King Henry VII, an honour bestowed on Whitney in 1908 soon after he won his second majority government. Today, this knight, on his silent steed, leads a province that has grown to a population of two and a half million. The Canadian Courier has called Whitney a man of the people who puts little stock in honours, adding that a "visitor to the Ontario Legislative

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 45)

Dr. Doolittle was convinced that the bicycle had won a permanent Place on city roads, not only for "the revellers in idleness and luxury, but also those who toil daily for their wants." He believed this trend would continue as bicycle prices dropped and roads improved, suggesting that the "practical, every-day utility of this vehicle has become ... patent to all."

Saturday Night's Sheppard suggested that bicycles were not a fad but had prompted permanent changes similar to other major changes such as the conversion from steam to electricity. Indeed, he suggested that the bicycle was spurring an egalitarian and democratic tendency in society. "If milord and milady ride bicycles followed by a valet and maid on wheels, no one will know which is the aristocrat and which the servant?"

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 43)

"Cycling to work had become so popular that bicycle rooms, sometimes with over 200 parking spots, were created, or planned, at a number of office buildings and institutions, including the then Union Station (just west of its current location), the music conservatory, and at Confederation Life on Richmond Street where Mayor Fleming had his business office. The plans for Toronto's new City Hall (completed in 1899) included two bicycle rooms. The Board of Trade, to dissuade employees and tenants from parking in the building's corridors, was planning to add a room for 100 bicycles. At the twelve-storey Temple Building, the city's tallest skyscraper at its completion in 1896, cyclists could park their vehicles and, for a small fee, have them repaired and cleaned."

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 5 - 7)

"By 1896, a number of bicycle paths had been built in and around the city, including a cinder path along the Lakeshore Road, from Sunnyside (near the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue) to the Humber River, with ambitions to extend it to Mimico and beyond."

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 24)

In his inaugural address in January 1896 as Toronto's new mayor, Robert Fleming promised road improvements for the benefit of cyclists. Fleming, sometimes known as "the Peoples Bob" said that part of each street should be paved with the most suitable material for cycling, adding that "strips" on streets "where asphalt or brick does not now exist, should be put in first-class shape for bicycle riders." He added that parts of the street should be graded and paved with special attention to "the comfort of those using wheels." The Globe, in commenting on the speech observed, The bicyclist feels that he is becoming a power in the land just now. News of Fleming's speech even crossed the Atlantic where a commentator in London's Lady's Pictorial wrote (exaggerating the mayor's words) that Toronto that city of telephones and blonde beauties - is going ahead in the matter of bicycling. News is to hand that the Mayor-elect intends to put down a cycling track in every new street that is constructed. "

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 22 - 23)

In 1895, an estimated 18,000 bicycles were sold in Toronto - an impressive number for a city that counted 196,000 people. Some buyers were repeat customers replacing old bicycles to keep up with year-over-year changes. The city's 1896 directory listed eighty bicycle shops, but other enterprises such as drug and hardware stores also sold bicycles to take advantage of the growing demand.

— Wheeling Through Toronto by Albert Koehl (Page 7)