Riding a bicycle to work is great for the environment but it's also dangerous. Truth be told, a fair number of cyclists ride as though they're in a fencing match with their four-wheeled rivals. They dart and dodge and weave in and out, sometimes going for the narrowest of paths to avoid being blocked or slowed down by motor vehicles.
A lot of cyclists, especially bike couriers, are their own worst enemies, alienating and sometimes infuriating drivers and pedestrians alike. I saw more than one bicycle courier down when I practised in Vancouver and there was always very little sympathy to be seen in the pedestrians who passed by.
A recent fatality has the Toronto Cyclists Union demanding blood. On Thursday a cyclist was killed after running into an open car door (presumably a parked car) and falling into the road where he was run over by a van. Police are deciding whether to charge the driver of the parked car with failing to take "due precautions." I don't think there's a chance in hell of a conviction.
Here's the problem. Absent a marked, bicycle lane, a cyclist weaving his way through the curb/parking lane is essentially "lane splitting." The lane is already occupied - by the parked vehicle he strikes. The vehicle doesn't strike the cyclist, it's parked. The moving vehicle is the bicycle. Yes, sure, the car driver opened the door but the vehicle itself was stationary and the cyclist either wasn't paying attention and didn't see it in time or was going too fast to be able to stop in time.
A bicycle on a public road is just another vehicle. The rider is obliged to honour traffic lights, for example. Bicyclists have been charged and convicted for speeding. So, what gives them the right to indulge in lane splitting so they can illegally pass (on the curb side) slower motor vehicles? Nothing exempts them from the duty to take "due precautions" either.
I've been riding motorcycles for over 40-years and, from that perspective, the way bicyclists maneuver through city traffic seems nothing short of suicidal. I ride one of those really big, adventure touring bikes - a big, bright yellow machine with a big, not always bright me atop it. This isn't a flimsy bicycle with a rider hunched over the handlebars. Even then I always have to maintain "conspicuity" which means positioning my motorcycle in the way required by the road and traffic conditions to make me as visible as possible to every other vehicle on the road, in front of me, beside me and behind me. If I'm going to survive I have to ride as though I was invisible to every other user of the road. The driver who's going to kill you is the driver who doesn't see you. Simple as that.
From the newspaper account it sounds as though the cyclist was 1) lane splitting, 2) passing in the curb lane, and 3) riding too fast for the conditions around him. I might be wrong about those facts but it sure sounds to me as though the cyclist was the author of his own misfortune.
In our overcrowded cities there are no miracle answers to the car versus cyclist problem save, perhaps, establishing a few bicycle lanes on secondary streets with strict laws forcing cyclists to use them. I know cyclists aren't going to like this but those who insist on riding in congested, downtown traffic areas ought to have to go through some sort of training/licensing programme. Knowing how to ride a bicycle isn't the same as knowing how to ride one safely. A cyclist who doesn't know how to ride safely or won't ride safely has no business mixing it up with pedestrians and vehicular traffic.
A lot of cyclists, especially bike couriers, are their own worst enemies, alienating and sometimes infuriating drivers and pedestrians alike. I saw more than one bicycle courier down when I practised in Vancouver and there was always very little sympathy to be seen in the pedestrians who passed by.
A recent fatality has the Toronto Cyclists Union demanding blood. On Thursday a cyclist was killed after running into an open car door (presumably a parked car) and falling into the road where he was run over by a van. Police are deciding whether to charge the driver of the parked car with failing to take "due precautions." I don't think there's a chance in hell of a conviction.
Here's the problem. Absent a marked, bicycle lane, a cyclist weaving his way through the curb/parking lane is essentially "lane splitting." The lane is already occupied - by the parked vehicle he strikes. The vehicle doesn't strike the cyclist, it's parked. The moving vehicle is the bicycle. Yes, sure, the car driver opened the door but the vehicle itself was stationary and the cyclist either wasn't paying attention and didn't see it in time or was going too fast to be able to stop in time.
A bicycle on a public road is just another vehicle. The rider is obliged to honour traffic lights, for example. Bicyclists have been charged and convicted for speeding. So, what gives them the right to indulge in lane splitting so they can illegally pass (on the curb side) slower motor vehicles? Nothing exempts them from the duty to take "due precautions" either.
I've been riding motorcycles for over 40-years and, from that perspective, the way bicyclists maneuver through city traffic seems nothing short of suicidal. I ride one of those really big, adventure touring bikes - a big, bright yellow machine with a big, not always bright me atop it. This isn't a flimsy bicycle with a rider hunched over the handlebars. Even then I always have to maintain "conspicuity" which means positioning my motorcycle in the way required by the road and traffic conditions to make me as visible as possible to every other vehicle on the road, in front of me, beside me and behind me. If I'm going to survive I have to ride as though I was invisible to every other user of the road. The driver who's going to kill you is the driver who doesn't see you. Simple as that.
From the newspaper account it sounds as though the cyclist was 1) lane splitting, 2) passing in the curb lane, and 3) riding too fast for the conditions around him. I might be wrong about those facts but it sure sounds to me as though the cyclist was the author of his own misfortune.
In our overcrowded cities there are no miracle answers to the car versus cyclist problem save, perhaps, establishing a few bicycle lanes on secondary streets with strict laws forcing cyclists to use them. I know cyclists aren't going to like this but those who insist on riding in congested, downtown traffic areas ought to have to go through some sort of training/licensing programme. Knowing how to ride a bicycle isn't the same as knowing how to ride one safely. A cyclist who doesn't know how to ride safely or won't ride safely has no business mixing it up with pedestrians and vehicular traffic.
