The Star's Fixer weighs in on cyclists on the sidewalks issue as he sifts through the voluminous emails he received from peds and bikers alike. The solution: get cyclists off the sidewalk and onto a bike lane. But what if I live out in the suburbs and must take Kingston Road to get anywhere? you ask. Get a bike lane installed.
And it'll happen really soon (and by "soon" I mean eventually):
City Councillor Adrian Heaps (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest), who chairs council's cycling advisory committee, said continuing to expand Toronto's growing network of bike lanes, along with educating cyclists on how to use them safely and confidently, will eventually steer some cyclists off sidewalks.
Blink and you might miss it.
Comments
bonehead (not verified)
let's see him fix
Tue, 10/14/2008 - 21:24let's see him fix this:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/joe_warmington/2008/09/24/6858...
push cyclists off the road. hmm. push cyclists off the sidewalk. wtf. tattoos at the link.
Svend
Getting cyclists off the
Wed, 10/15/2008 - 20:22Getting cyclists off the sidewalks and getting them to respect pedestrians on multi use paths needs to be done. They're scaring and pissing off a lot of people and ruining any goodwill we need to get more cycling infrastructure.
Phil (not verified)
Cyclists have a rep
Fri, 10/17/2008 - 13:40and it ain't good. I agree with Svend. Until cyclists start obeying the rules of the road and sidewalk (no matter how unintuitive as they may seem) drivers are not going to give us an ounce of respect. It's simply a war out there right now between automobiles and cyclists. I routinely get more angry at other cyclists now than automobiles. Headphones while cycling? Sidewalk cruising? No effort to utilize bike bells to notify drivers and even more importantly other cyclists?! WTF?
Darren_S
War?!
Fri, 10/17/2008 - 21:14Drivers barely get along with other drivers and we should be worried about their respect? They kill and maim one another at a far greater rate than they do cyclists.
War? Apart from being a very strong word, isn't it a little one sided out there?
The EnigManiac
Pot Calling The Kettle
Sun, 10/19/2008 - 23:01My mother used to remind me to worry about what I was doing, not what others are doing. That is sound advice for the misguided motorists who see cyclists commiting traffic infractions. If they paused for a moment to consider their objections to seemingly scofflaw cyclists, they'd see their outrage and fury are misplaced and an over-reaction. Cyclists rarely cause accidents, certainly not serious ones, and they don't endanger others the vast majority of the time. Using the excuse that because cyclists roll through stop signs, perhaps ride through a red or commit other transgressions they are free to disrespect, threaten and openly target cyclists is irrational, criminal and subhuman. They need to be reminded that they violate far more serious traffic regulations than cyclists do on a far more regular basis, often with much more devastating results. If they watched their own driving, behaved safely, conscientiously and courteously, rather than point the finger at a cyclist commiting a minor infraction, perhaps we'd have more respect for them.
Steph (not verified)
Not so minor...
Tue, 10/21/2008 - 15:56I'm with the person who is more angry at cyclists. I pretty much already know how cars treat cyclists (shitty) and devote much of my cycling energy trying to deal with those big metal cans that can kill me. When someone on their bike adds to the mix by not signalling, jumping lights, jumping off curbs from the sidewalk in front of me, not using their bell to indicate they are passing, passing all the other faster cyclists at an intersection, riding without a light, running red lights at t-intersections, etc etc. they are also endangering the lives of their fellow bikers and I don't need that kind of extra stress.
I would love it if drivers were more safe and conscientious, but the "because they do it, I should too" attitude doesn't solve anything. Nor does the who is worse debate. I want people who ride their bikes to be more careful and obey the rules of the road.
And I want them off the sidewalk.
chephy (not verified)
EnigManiac said it.
Sun, 10/19/2008 - 22:16Nothing to add.
yellowbike (not verified)
crappy cyclists and crappy motorists
Tue, 10/21/2008 - 23:05Two recent events in my cycling life have brought much mirth to my friends. Since they deal with crappy cyclists and crappy motorists, I thought I would make a feeble attempt to entertain this forum as well.
"Crappy Cyclist"
<> Eastbound on Bloor St W, at the (questionable) streetlight at Robert/Walmer Rds. I was running late, and therefore biking a little too fast for my crappy brakes. The light changed, and I admit I skidded through the pedestrian crossing area on the tail end of the yellow and four-way red. But I came to a stop before the Robert St. curb, and waited for my green light. The only thing waiting for the north-bound green light was a cyclist... standing astride his bike, on the curb. He sneered at me "Nice Stop". Then utilised the pedestrian crossing area to bike north (illegal) and make a left hand turn into the Bloor westbound lanes. Too flabbergasted at his rudeness, it too me a couple of delayed seconds to notice his illegal turn and lack of lights.
"Crappy Motorist"
<> The stretch of gerrard between Yonge and Bay is one of my least favourite bike lanes... and yet, in an effort to avoid the streetcar tracks on College, I continue to use it. Recently a car made a U turrn, entering the bike lane, cutting me off in the process, and the getting wedged into the bike lane by cars that pulled up too closely to allow the driver to complete his turn. Having no choice but to come to an abrupt halt, I threw my arms down in a gesture of frustration (but not in a profane or rude manner). I was quite surprised when the passenger rolled down his window and said "Yes??". I said "Well, that wasn't very nice". The driver leaned forward and quipped "Hmm, well you can spank me if you like..."
ms.chris (not verified)
email I sent in to Joe re the first comment link
Fri, 10/24/2008 - 15:30To: Joe Warmington
Sent: Tue Oct 21 18:36:06 2008
Subject: re: $500 million road to nowhere
Joe,
I really hope your "$500 million road to nowhere" column was a joke
because it is the biggest load of bollocks I've read lately, and that's
saying a lot seeing as we've just completed an election.
"Somebody has to tell Mayor David Miller and his green friends that
biking is a hobby and that most people don't want to risk their lives to
ride to work in an urban setting so he can get his face on the cover of
another environmental magazine"
Biking is in fact NOT merely a hobby, it is a legitimate mode of
transportation, and a damn good one at that. Clearly it is in fact YOU
that has no concept of who is in the city, who lives here and works here
and how they get around. You also have no concept of our current transit
capacity and that which will be needed as our city grows if you think
that if we "throw on a couple of extra buses and maybe you don't even
need a "rapid line" along there. Hey, I just saved the taxpayer's
millions."
If this City was acting like the "World Class City" it wants to be, it'd
have a lot more bike lanes and much better cycling infrastructure
already. It's about time they're investing in it. Cities around the
world have been waking up to the fact that cycling is a great
environmentally friendly, low maintenance, low impact mode of
transportation and if they could just get more people out of their cars
and on bikes or transit they could keep growing, yet avoid worsening the
air quality and traffic congestion.
Building new highways and roads is going to get us nowhere except stuck
in that much more gridlock breathing in more noxious fumes. oh joy!
Rapid transit, and walking and cycling networks come before the link to
the airport because the greatest number of trips in this city comes from
people going to and from work. They don't fly there everyday. If the
city can get people commuting in from the GTA/Hamilton/Barrie to leave
their cars at home and come in on a rapid transit system to connect to a
walking/cycling/bike sharing network they'd well on the way to a better
future. Yes, a rapid link to the airport is important, but it's not the
most important. Their priorities are in the right place in order to grow
this city into an actual World Class City.
His response....
Date Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:48 PM ( 2 days 20 hours ago )
From "Joe Warmington" Joe.Warmington@sunmedia.ca
Subject Re: $500 million road to nowhere Show full header
Pretty cold to bike out thjere tonight though. But you make some great points. Jw