A serious injury to a cyclist and an alarming viral video this weekend have many in Toronto calling for more action, including renewed calls for Lake Shore West to be closed to motorists, at least on summer weekends.

ActiveTO was a huge success the last two summers as the city grappled with lockdowns and made unprecedented changes to encourage residents to get outside on foot and on bike.

Lake Shore West was one of the beneficiaries as lanes were closed between Jameson Avenue and Stadium Road for most of the summer.

The result? Cyclists and pedestrians turned out in huge numbers to enjoy the waterfront route in a safe way. 

The temporary initiative was largely deemed a success despite complaints from motorists about unbearable traffic jams and annoying detours.

This year? No ActiveTO route closures have been announced so far and if it comes back, many expect it to be in a much diminished scope. 

The incident this weekend showed that even with dedicated bike lanes, cyclists in the city still aren't safe from motorists when things go awry.

In this weekend's incident, Toronto Police say the "life-altering injuries" occurred when a driver lost control of their vehicle, "went off the road and hit a cyclist."

Cycled past there about 30 min after the crash. The vehicle had left the roadway, crossed the bike path, and travelled ~50m across the grass, stopping short of the Argonaut Club house.

— J o h n V o s s (@jwvoss) May 14, 2022

Reports have many in Toronto fuming mad, suggesting that injuries like this to cyclists could be prevented if only the City had the will to act.

again, a sad lack of civic leadership. always thinking small.

— Andrew Larsen (@larsenesque) May 14, 2022

Many are calling for the return of ActiveTO this spring and summer.

the failure to keep activeTO going at least on lakeshore where it was so heavily utilized is actually confusing

— bohemian betty (@mushrooomomma) May 14, 2022

It's not the first major incident involving a cyclist and motorist in recent days.

On Thursday, dashcam video captured an incident near High Park where a motorist used their vehicle to intimidate a cyclist and nearly knocked them off the road before a verbal altercation occurred.

Thurs in #HighPark a motorist used his vehicle to assault & intimidate a cyclist. These common incidents lay bare the fallacy of the cyclist menace. High Park should be closed to motor vehicles @gordperks. Ticket/charge dangerous drivers @TorontoPolice not cyclists going 24km/h pic.twitter.com/1D8usyhYW6

— The Biking Lawyer (Dave Shellnutt) (@TheBikingLawyer) May 14, 2022

People are now calling for Toronto Police to investigate.