signs

York Blvd., Hamilton

On the Sunday of the Victoria Day long weekend, after doing some camping and hiking at Bronte Creek Provincial Park, Jen and I rode to Hamilton to visit family. Riding to Hamilton is actually a relatively frequent trip for us, and for the majority of the ride it's really fun and scenic.

On Sunday I noticed this sign for the first time, while riding eastbound on York Blvd. into downtown Hamilton. I had to stop and turn around to take a picture because it cracked me up.

Seriously...what does this sign really mean? Are we expected to stop sharing the road after this point? Is it OK for a motorist to just run right over a cyclist anywhere beyond this sign? Should we have pulled over and walked our bikes along the sidewalk the rest of the way?

It reminds me of the signs I see around Toronto: "Community Safety Zone....Ends!"

Anyway, besides this little chuckle, we actually had a nice time riding around Hamilton. Sometime soon, I will post another article and photos of a new bike lane that was installed on a more westerly portion of York Blvd. in Hamilton.

Cyclists Dismount

Back in January I noticed that these "Cyclists Dismount" signs were added along the Bloor St. sidewalk by the railway underpasses between Lansdowne Ave. and Dundas St. West.

I don't necessarily have a problem with telling cyclists to dismount while riding on sidewalks. After all, sidewalks are meant for pedestrians, and I have personally had some close encounters with sidewalk cyclists along here. It's especially dangerous to pedestrians stepping out from the Bloor GO train station.

However, these signs may be an indication of a bigger issue. Many cyclists hit the sidewalk when riding through these underpasses because they fear for their safety on the road. I often see cyclists ride on the road along Bloor St., only to hop up on the curb when they reach the underpasses.

I can understand why cyclists might want to do that.

From the Don Valley to Central Parkway in Mississauga, this is definitely the worst part of Bloor St., for many reasons (Ok, Six Points stinks too). But for cyclists in particular, the problems are:

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As a member of the newly-formed Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee, I will be attending a meeting next week with Antonio Medeiros, a project manager at Waterfront Toronto. He is working on the design for the Martin Goodman Trail at Ontario Place that will run along the south side of Lakeshore Drive directly south of Exhibition Place.

The Waterfront Toronto team is at the beginning stages of the design work and are hoping for some cyclist feedback and thoughts about the project. In particular, the design team is concerned with safely accommodating multiple trail users, as well as creating safe and easy-to-navigate intersections where vehicular traffic must intersect. Please read the following description of the project, as it stands now, and post your comments. This project is already approved and will be completed quickly, with or without cyclists’ input. The more ideas I can bring to the table at this time, the better. Thanks for contributing!

If you happened to cross the Bloor Street Viaduct on Monday afternoon, you might have noticed David Curtis, his partner Laura and a couple of die-hard activists still givn’er with placards, after 4 solid days of Car Free activity.
Our targets were the many drivers who speed Eastbound, jamming into the right lane to exit down on to the Don Valley Parkway (which looks beautifully resurfaced for next year’s Ride for Heart, by the way!!!).

Perhaps more importantly, we felt a need to target cyclists as well, who are forced to merge across this auto-mania, as their Bike Lane abruptly ends. The dangers were imminent as we watched rider after rider cut into the traffic lane without so much as a hand signal or even a backward glance! Drivers were time and time again “cut off” and forced to slam on their brakes to avoid plowing the cyclist down.