sidewalk cycling

Aside from the few people who read this blog, who out there would willingly ride on the road up at Finch and Sentinel? The eastbound image from Google above shows just how unfriendly the roads are: potholes, speeding cars. The sidewalks, however, are quite inviting - few walkers and separated from the roadway.

Breaking news is that a cyclist on the sidewalk at Finch and Sentinel killed a pedestrian recently (and how many peds died by cars this year alone?). I'm thinking it must be a special kind of asshole who is riding on the sidewalk in such an unsafe manner that they could kill someone, though granted I don't know the specifics of how this happened. It's a terrible thing, no matter the instrument that contributed to the death. But these bike/ped crashes always bring out the worst in politics and allows us to ignore all the big picture.

The Star claims that there are "moves" to get cyclists off the sidewalk, which is just code for streamlining the fines so they are $90 across the city. “There isn’t enough teeth in the law,” claims Sgt. Angelo Costa, the traffic sergeant in 31 Division. Yet he ignores the fact that the police can charge cyclists, like drivers, with charges like careless driving ($300 fine) or even with manslaughter.

The article even claims that e-bikes are allowed on the sidewalk because the by-law specifies wheel size. The wheel size issue is a red herring, since this has been addressed a long time ago by cops tacking on careless driving charges, which they started doing when bike couriers tried to circumvent the by-law.

All this hand-waving and moaning completely overlooks the root issue: why cyclists would prefer to ride on the sidewalk instead of the road. Sidewalk cycling is much higher in the suburbs and it's higher on streets with no bike lanes. It's just simple logic. Put in a bike lane, provide safer, comfortable routes for cyclists and they'll willingly stay off the sidewalk. From Andie Garcia of the Bike Union: “A lot of cyclists will tell you that they feel extremely unsafe on the road and therefore they choose to bike on the sidewalk. That ends up creating a second set of problems.”

This all begs a question: Why is it that we are so opposed to sidewalk cycling (especially in the suburbs where many sidewalks are mostly empty) but we are okay with sharing a multi-use path? Aren't they the same as far as walkers and cyclists are concerned? Where we have installed bike paths alongside roads such as Eglinton, they are often shared between pedestrians and cyclists (even with a separate sidewalk).

From the Star:

Khemraj Ganga rides his bike on the Finch Ave. W. sidewalk on a regular basis to get to work as a security guard.

“Nobody’s going to make me ride on the road. If I can’t ride here, I’ll stop riding because it is not safe for me,” he said.

Ganga, 55, claims he is a safe cyclist, especially when pedestrians are near.

“When I’m close to pedestrians, I come to a complete stop. No pedestrian is going to tell me I’m going to hit them. They’re going to walk into my bicycle. I’m not going to hit them, though.”

Another cyclist — who declined to give his name — cited poor road conditions and cars travelling up to 80 km/h as the reasons he rides on pedestrian walkways.

Let's keep in mind, that these people aren't "cyclists" as if they were something alien from "drivers" or "pedestrians". The labels serve to cover up that many of us are any of the three at any one time. The one fellow would just as well stop riding altogether if he can't ride on the sidewalk. That might be just what some politicians want.

The CBC reports that the pedestrian committee is working to close a loophole that allows e-bikes on sidewalks. This makes sense, as e-bikers must be adults, and the intention of the bylaw was to allow children to ride on sidewalks.

I find that my perception of e-bikes is influenced by whether the e-bike looks like a bicycle, or looks like a motorcycle/scooter. I recently saw a bicycle-style e-biker motoring her way down the sidewalk on Queen street, and most people didn't seem to care. The other day, I was passed rather closely by a motorcycle-style e-bike in the bike lane, but was glad that he sounded his bell/horn to alert me to his presence. I don't personally have a problem with e-bikes using bike lanes, and am rather dismayed that the Bike Union has taken an opposing position. A 32 km/h top speed e-bike is much nicer to share the roads with than more cars!

However, monkey see = monkey do. It looked like a motorcycle using the bike lane. After this a real motorcycle decided to use the bike lane to pass congestion, which I do have a problem with as their speed is not limited, and can actually pose a danger.

Obviously many motorists are not clued in to the existence of e-bikes yet as I saw an e-bike travelling down the middle of the lane on Eastern Avenue, which would surely evoke honking rage if it was a bicycle travelling the same speed (regardless of the speed of traffic at that time).

Toronto has its share of fast, arterial roads with miles of empty sidewalk. The mantra of anti-sidewalk riding is more about moralizing than about coming up with practical solutions to high levels of sidewalk cycling collisions and falls. In fact, there is some obvious two-faced advice being given since we still allow kids to ride on the sidewalk while also trying to convince adults that sidewalks are so dangerous that we shouldn't even attempt to bike on them. My small part here is not to encourage cyclists to break a city by-law but to give some advice on how safely ride sidewalks if the cyclist finds themselves in the unfortunate and illegal position of being on a bike on a sidewalk.

One such area where cyclists often find themselves on the sidewalk is the suburbs. Take any fast arterial road with nearly empty sidewalks and you'll find plenty of unsure and largely untrained cyclists braving the sidewalks. The law tells them they can only use the road, but I find it highly unlikely that such a cyclist would find their safety level increase by cycling on an arterial road. In fact, it would be a quick way to crush their resolve to bike and force them back into their car.

With a bit of training you too can be a safer and more considerate sidewalk cyclist. :

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I just came back from the 22 division's police station. I went there to have my complaint heard. Staff sergeant Glen Dewling (#2704) was good enough to listen to my complaint. He was prepared with his paperwork to hear my complaint about a specific officer. After reading my letter, he realized that it wasn't a specific officer I was complaining about, but the "we" in the officer's comment, as you'll see in the letter I wrote to them.

Glen Dewling was impressed with the letter. He did not know that sidewalk cycling was a factor in about 30% of crashes and collisions. He also did not know some other facts I presented. As he had no pre-set process or procedure or forms for handling this complaint he offered to copy and share the letter both with the Traffic Sergeant and his boss. I hope that it helps, but it is likely not enough.

My hope in publishing the letter here, I can inspire you to be better a better cyclist, a better mentor and teacher, and a better cycling advocate. And I hope that you can also share some ideas with us here to further the cause.

The letter I wrote is this:

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blockquote>To Everyone, as it likely concerns you too;

Yesterday my daughters had their swimming lessons after school. We rode our bicycles there as it's not too far. The roads were still wet from the recent rain, and we were getting strong "skunk stripes" up our backs, but the threat of more rain had passed.