The cycling department at the City is putting some effort into educating the public on sharrows and how to use them. I recall this being a request put forward by some in the cycling community, that if we're going to have sharrows, we need to raise awareness of what they mean and how to use them.
Despite that, I believe that the mere existence of sharrows without education still influences the behaviours of drivers and cyclists. Cyclists are more likely to feel they can use more of the lane and drivers are more likely to give way to cyclists. (Not all, but many).
The ads will be appearing on various online newspapers over the next couple months.
If you can't see the Flash goodness above, here's a static graphic of it:
Engineering students and teachers at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies have finally fulfilled Leonardo da Vinci's vision of an ornithopter, an aircraft, powered by a human pilot's muscles, which flies by flapping its wings. Unmanned ornithopters have already been used for practical reasons and by hobbyists, but having a person power the whole contraption was a much higher level of difficulty. The wing span of this ornithopter is said to rival that of a 747.
The story involves pedal-power, Toronto and an interesting video - all things which make for a good story for bike nerds.
The "Snowbird" man-powered ornithopter achieved its history-making flight last month in Ontario, Canada, witnessed by a Canadian official of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) - the body responsible for authenticating aviation records, first flights and the like. The machine was piloted (and flapped) by Todd Reichert, an engineering PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. It flew for 19.3 seconds, and covered a distance of 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour.
"This represents one of the last of the aviation firsts," said Reichert, who was also leader of the project to build the Snowbird. The intrepid ornithopteror had undergone a rigorous training regime prior to the flight, which involved shedding over 18lb of weight over 4 weeks.
The Snowbird itself, constructed mainly from wire, carbon fibre, foam and balsa wood, weighs just 94lb despite having a 105-foot wingspan comparable to that of a Boeing 737. Its pilot powers the flapping wings by pedalling like a cyclist, one of the most efficient ways to generate energy using the human body.
Eight mayoral candidates accompanied the bike union on a downtown bike ride on Monday (oops, stale news!). Three of the main candidates didn't go for the ride: Smitherman hoped to arrange a one on one ride; Thomson was probably planning her exit strategy; and Ford was afraid to look like a big hypocrite (he was probably also thinking about lurking nearby with his SUV, the "road shark", ready to pounce). According to the bike union, the half hour ride gave the candidates a full experience of downtown cycling:
...allowed candidates to experience almost the full range of scenarios faced on a daily urban commute by bicycle. The ride took candidates on arterials with bike lanes, without bike lanes, on roads with construction, roads scarred by utility cuts, on minor arterials, and on side streets, though because of time constraints, candidates did not experience the less welcoming suburban cycling environment where traffic speeds are higher and few if any cycling facilities currently exist.
Pantalone, because he never learning to ride, got a nice rickshaw ride by his assistant Mike Smith. (Rickshaw looks like it was provided by Streets are for People).
It appears that Rocco Rossi used the event as an opportunity to provide a more nuanced view of his no-bikes-on-arterial-roads plan (though he still fails to address the fact that even his chosen lanes of Richmond, Sherbourne and St. George are all arterial roads; and that even his new plan covers only a tiny part of the city):
Rossi's proposed safe bike network consists of four new major lanes separated from traffic by a curb.
An east-west lane would run from Parliament to Bathurst Sts. along Richmond St., another would see the existing Wellesley St. -Harbord St. lane completed and separated from traffic between Parliament St. and Ossington Ave.
Cyclists would see the existing Sherbourne St. bike lane separated between Elm Ave. and Queens Quay and a second north-south lane would see the existing St. George St.-Beverley St. lane extended to Queens Quay and separated from traffic.
"I oppose bike lanes on arterials like Jarvis and University and I continue to hold that stance," Rossi said. "As an active cyclist myself, we need a solution, a network that is connected and separated to be safe."
A good summary of the main candidates plans. Most of the plans are inferior to the existing official Bike Plan, though Joe Pantalone, in my opinion of the main candidates, provides the most thoughtful responses on how to improve cycling and livability through a Complete Streets strategy. See all the candidates' responses. Ford didn't bother respond.
