education

Tino captured the opening celebration of Charlie's Bike Shop (as part of the organization Charlie's Freewheels, which opened recently just a few doors east of Sherbourne on Queen. Charlie's works with youth from Regent Park to provide training in bicycle mechanics and now running a business.

Charlie's Freewheels was named in honour of Charlie Prinsep, a Torontonian who was hit and killed by a car on the Trans-Canada near Brooks, Alberta while on a cross-country bike tour. Charlie loved everything about cycling: riding, fixing, going on long tours. (The site is not far from my parents home. I visited the site in 2007 where Charlie was hit; the wide, flat, straight, isolated Trans-Canada has plenty of room to avoid hitting anyone, but the driver was most likely falling asleep at the wheel.)

Click on the photo to see Tino's whole gallery.

Some of the organizers help launch the shop, including Emma McIlveen Brown, Derek Chadbourne, Joshua Farr, unknown and Aaron Marques.

See also the first award ceremony at Critical Mass;

Photo of errant cyclists by Tino.

Even in the obscure corners that this blog occupies, we hear people enthusiastic about legislating cycling. Writing this post really feels like beating a dead horse long after its been buried and then exhumed and then beaten again. A small segment of the population remains enthusiastic about legislating cyclists and/or bicycles, so I feel a strong need to cover this territory again.

Toronto has studied the issue of mandatory licensing for cyclists a few times already. Each time the city's staff have studied the issue and come to the conclusion that it would be difficult to implement; and won't meet the assumed goals. The proponents aren't even clear on the means, whether it be licensing for cyclists or registration fees for bicycles or both, so the report has had to make guesses about the intentions and means.

What is the purpose of legislating cyclists? How is helping anyone? Let's look at the stated goals and see if they justify the means.

Make cyclists pay their fair share

(Credit: Alliance for Biking and Walking)

For the longest time there was nothing in Toronto to provide an intensive bike learning experience for kids (other than occasional half-day bike rodeos). Bike training has been insufficient. Now there are two major initiatives; one by the City of Toronto Parks and Rec's Kids CAN-BIKE Camp, and the other is the competition: a for-profit company, Pedalheads, that is opening up a location here after running in Vancouver and elsewhere for many years.

From Macleans:

The week-long camps, which started 15 years ago in Vancouver and then expanded to Victoria, Calgary and Edmonton, have been such a hit that this summer, Pedalheads is opening four locations in the Toronto area. The camps, which operate at eight levels, take children as young as two (the child must turn three by December) for an hour-long program called “Trikes ’n Trainers.” At age four, kids can enrol in half-day or full-day programs.

Meanwhile parents can also enroll their kids into the Parks and Rec Kids CAN-BIKE Camp this summer at Sunnybrook Park. The website hasn't been updated yet as it still refers to last years camps for underprivileged kids. The Sunnybrook camp is open to any kid whose parents can afford the $150 for the week (pretty cheap if you ask me).

Anyone who works in IT, or who is a traffic engineer, knows of the 80/20 rule of networks. The 80/20 rule is simple, it states that on any given segment of a network, 80% of the traffic is local. The exceptions for this rule are rare.

Collision studies show that 80% of crashes and collisions occur within 5 miles of one's home, that is they occur locally. That is because 80% of our trips, and therefore 80% of our time, is spent within those five miles.

5 miles is about the same as the upper limit people are willing to cycle from home to shopping and other errands on their bike. We spend 80% of our time driving 5 miles or less. Some of these trips can, and should, be made by bike.

The point of the city's Bike Plan is not to force everyone to make all of their trips bike, but to encourage, enable, and empower more people to ride a bike for at least some of their trips. And the trips which would be most likely to qualify are those in the 80% -- the shorter, local trips.

Clever advert for a the a popular box store in Germany.

Today's Toronto Star editorial cartoon reminded me of this advertisement I saw in a Zeller's catalog earlier this year.

Someone else could possibly write a long-winded sociological essay about how kids are influenced by the behaviours of adults, advertising, media, toys, etc.... but I found it particularly funny (in that "haha that's so wrong!" kind of way) that this cell-phone wielding SUV-driving maniac kid appeared in my Zeller's catalog.

A certain Allderblob'er says it's time to ban car advertising. Maybe we need to go a step further and ban idiocy. Do it for the children!

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.

I first met Mr. Bike a.k.a. Chicago's legendary Dave Glowacz a few years ago during Bike Week. He simply showed up in Toronto to check out what ARC and others were up to during Bike Week. We talked for awhile at CBN's Parking Meter Party. I instantly liked him. Passionate, intelligent and insightful.

He has written several great book on cycling in urban areas like Urban Bikers' Tips and Tricks

Now he's started a syndicated Ask Mr. Bike website which is proving to be an invaluable resource for cyclists everywhere.

That is very good news. Highly Recommended. Thank you Mr. Bike!