To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets

agree with you on everything but the texting ban. texting while driving endangers me about as much as somebody else drinking and driving.
at the same time: do i text and drive? sure do.

 

Oh, Tom, don't get zag started on texting and driving. I'm pretty sure he believes it is actually written into the Bill of Rights.

 

that shit's insane. i only do it if i'm taking straight shots of jack and shooting china white at the same time, because they impact your driving about the same.

 

From state to state, bicycles have the same rights to the road as cars, with the exception of high-speed, limited access highways. And are almost always prohibited from sidewalks.

 

If you need to ride your bike on the sidewalk, you should probably leave it at home.

Toronto has about 400 km (250 miles) of bike lanes and the goal is 1,000 km.

Buses have bike racks and bikes are allowed on subways during non rush hour traffic,

There is, as in all major North American cities, an ongoing feud between bicycles and motorists and there are douchebags on both sides. Couriers are the worst.

It doesn't help that our idiot mayor--maybe the worst one in the history of Toronto--is so anti bike that he took out bike lanes on a major north/south corridor because it was taking the Bay Street stockbrokers in their gas guzzling SUV's an extra two minutes to get to work.

 

Zag should move to Toronto. They're considering a ban on texting and walking.

 

Correct. Bicycles are vehicles, therefore, they are to be ridden on the roads, not on the sidewalks, which are for pedestrians.

I bike roads quite a bit, always as close to the right edge as I can get. But you have to share the road with cyclists. It's law. I agree that some cyclists are assholes in this regard, riding in the middle of the road, etc.

But you have to understand that we have to obey traffic laws as well. Perfect example: On one of the roads I ride, there's a right-turn lane that sprouts out at an intersection with no traffic light. I have to maintain myself in the other lane, though, because if I ride in the right lane and go straight through the intersection, I risk getting pummeled by someone making that right turn. And I would be in the wrong in any potential accident because I'm breaking the law by going straight in that lane.

Yet I occasionally get the bird from someone in a car because "I'm in the wrong lane" when I signal and hug the line of the straight lane. Aggravating.

 

Cosmo and I appear to be the same person.

I had a guy get seriously pissed at me because I was in the left hand turn lane to make a left hand turn. This guy wasn't even turning - he was in the lane next to me. I explained to him that I was in the right place since I can't make a left hand turn from the curb. He was unconvinced and called me hurtful names. It will come as no surprise to Torontonians on the board that my commute to my office is through our Mayor's former riding.

As to riding on the sidewalks, it's illegal in most places. Besides, it gives you the illusion of safety when in reality you are less visible to cars while moving at speeds much faster than pedestrians.

As to helmets, it isn't mandatory in Toronto if you're over the age of 16 and I see a lot of people who ride without them. I am NOT among their number.

 

Do you also "hug the line of the straight lane"?

 

Why yes, I do!

 

I knew that was going to come back and bite me. Well done, Vers.

 

I had one as a motorist yesterday that just left me shaking my head.

I was at a stoplight with two left turn lanes, and I was in the right of those lanes. A bike was in the left. We both turned at the light -- so he is in the inside lane as we get onto the new street -- and then he needs to get all the way over to the right side. So he cuts in front of me to get over. Now, if it's a car this is fine, so I figure this was a legal move on his part. But he was damn lucky that I was driving in the next lane, because not everyone is paying attention -- most people aren't -- and he could have easily wound up under the car he was cutting in front of. And at that point it isn't going to be much consolation to him that he has the right of way.

Also, this was the one busy intersection in a one-mile stretch of road. There were at least a half-dozen other places he could have gotten where he needed to go.