Cyclists need to obey the law

[Thousand]

As gas price goes up, we are gonna see a lot of cyclists on the street. It's unfortunate that cyclists are forced to ride their bikes on the road with all the cars going 60km/h.


http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_24279.aspx

 

[tboy]

That's not exactly true, there are no streets in the city core with a 60 kph speed limit and for that matter, I have yet to be able to do anything close to that during the day due to traffic.

As I have said repeatedly: I'm all for more bike lanes and would wholeheartedly support a whole curb lane dedicated to 2 way bike traffic. One that changes depending on the time of day like Jarvis does.....

 

[hunter001]

I don't know what tboy is even saying anymore. (I love that ignore function.) I really can't see what else the guy could say after admitting that he would openly assult someone and then lie about it if it went to trail (if he could possible get the balls to go from his internet tough guy world to the street). I guess he just likes showing his true colors over and over and over and over...

 

[Vinewood]

As I have said repeatedly: I'm all for more bike lanes and would wholeheartedly support a whole curb lane dedicated to 2 way bike traffic. One that changes depending on the time of day like Jarvis does.....

This is the most reasonable solution, and if we could see that we should in turn see an increase in citations for cyclists that don't follow the rules (only fair, we need to give the riders safe places to ride if the rules are going to be enforced). It's sad that cities like Chicago make our bike infrastructure look like a total afterthought.

One problem with this though is the blockers at city hall. Guys like Case Ootes and (the ever moronic) Rob Ford. Case only cares about his geriatric constituents and randomly placed speed bumps when it comes to urban planning, and Ford seems totally contrary to anything that doesn't involve more SUV space on the road. They've really done the city a dis-service over the years.

 

[Moraff]

I don't know what tboy is even saying anymore. (I love that ignore function.) I really can't see what else the guy could say after admitting that he would openly assult someone and then lie about it if it went to trail (if he could possible get the balls to go from his internet tough guy world to the street). I guess he just likes showing his true colors over and over and over and over...

So you are taking the time to comment on what someone wrote, regardless of the fact that you have absolute no idea what it is he wrote?

Makes you look pretty foolish IMO, especially since the comment you are talking about was actually a good one. (again, IMO)

 

[tboy]

Actualy, Vine is right and the cops blitzed cyclists this week handing out 3100 citations......now only if they would do it all the time, maybe we'd have a lot less problems?

 

[Vinewood]

Actualy, Vine is right and the cops blitzed cyclists this week handing out 3100 citations......now only if they would do it all the time, maybe we'd have a lot less problems?

Well they have to solve the infrastructure problems first, otherwise the police would have to dedicate undue amounts of manpower to patrol cyclists.

I'm only partly for the blitz in that it raises cycling awareness and shows that the police are taking cyclists seriously. But blitzing without due follow-up by city council to solve some of our infrastructure problems that cause cyclists to bend and break the rules will just cause more gridlock as it will scare people away from this perfectly viable commuting option.

 

[tboy]

Well they have to solve the infrastructure problems first, otherwise the police would have to dedicate undue amounts of manpower to patrol cyclists.

I'm only partly for the blitz in that it raises cycling awareness and shows that the police are taking cyclists seriously. But blitzing without due follow-up by city council to solve some of our infrastructure problems that cause cyclists to bend and break the rules will just cause more gridlock as it will scare people away from this perfectly viable commuting option.

Actually, all it would take is for the existing traffic cops to issue tickets whenever they see an offence happening. Sooner rather than later word would get around that cyclists now have to abide by the existing laws and then eventually (it should) be like cars etc: pretty much everyone abides by the laws.

As for infrastructure: the problem with dedicated permanant bike lanes is that for about half the year they wouldn't be used due to incliment weather. At least in the numbers needed to make it viable.

 

[Vinewood]

Actually, all it would take is for the existing traffic cops to issue tickets whenever they see an offence happening. Sooner rather than later word would get around that cyclists now have to abide by the existing laws and then eventually (it should) be like cars etc: pretty much everyone abides by the laws.

They'd have to do it constantly. There aren't enough police for that. There are enough police for the occasional media-friendly blitz, but not a sustained policy.

As for infrastructure: the problem with dedicated permanant bike lanes is that for about half the year they wouldn't be used due to incliment weather. At least in the numbers needed to make it viable.

Chicago makes it work. Montreal makes it work. Ottawa makes it work. We're supposed to be a bike friendly city and we can't. One of the big reasons bike paths aren't used during colder temperatures is because there is no maintenance of them in the winter.

I'm starting to understand why this thread is so circular though, I think I'll bow out

 

[tboy]

Oh I totally agree about the bike paths, on one of those nice warmish winter days I wanted to go blading and the paths along the DVP were under a foot of snow lol....alright if you cross country ski lol.

But if you all are serious about making change, the east york councillor fletcher will be at
Riverdale Park (Broadview north of Gerrard) Tuesday, July 1st 11AM - 3PM

I will be there and I will mention to her my idea about the seasonal dedicated bike lanes and about the police enforcing the laws continually.....

 

[Moraff]

They'd have to do it constantly. There aren't enough police for that. There are enough police for the occasional media-friendly blitz, but not a sustained policy.

Well it'd help if they'd just do it when it happened under their noses. Far too often I see cyclists (and to be fair, pedestrians and motorists) breaking the law right in front of a police officer and they do nothing.

Given that cycling is going to be a growing pastime what with both our tending towards greener living and the rising cost of gas, it's time that cyclists were a) licensed and b) had to carry some insurance in case they cause injury/damage.

When I was a kid in Quebec, we had to get little plastic tags for our bikes from the city, so there's no reason it can't be done now.

 

[hunter001]

They'd have to do it constantly. There aren't enough police for that. There are enough police for the occasional media-friendly blitz, but not a sustained policy.

I drove right by two cops who sole purpose at the time was giving out tickets on the side street, they are there often. One cop looked at me , I looked back and I kept on riding. It was clear he didn't care or he could have easily told me to stop and given me a ticket because that is what he was there to do.

In the down town core where I wouldn't ride on the sidewalk the cops may take a different approach.