For all bicycle lovers

[tboy]

Yeah you can call it nitpicking in regards to cement/concrete but there is a difference in materials and it is no different than substituting OSB for Plywood. Both similar products but different.

(btw: I was doing it to highlight the idiocy of his post).

 

[Moraff]

Yeah you can call it nitpicking in regards to cement/concrete but there is a difference in materials and it is no different than substituting OSB for Plywood. Both similar products but different.

Oh I 100% agree with you, having done some work in the trades I find it annoying when people use the wrong term for what they are talking about (and yes I'm sure I do it myself on occasion). But when dealing with the average citizen one must make allowances.

(btw: I was doing it to highlight the idiocy of his post).

Yah I know, but I wasn't letting that get in the way of having fun. <grin>

 

[Ironhead]

I agree with Tboy. It is a pet peeve of mine.
Cement floor is definitely indoors and is unlikely to be accessible by cars and probably not intended to be accessible by bicycles. I do understand what Moraff is saying about concret/cement.
There are exception to every rule I understand, for instance the Sky Dome. The playing surface ... floor or ground, seating area ... floor or ground.

This is just my personal opinion and not intended to make anyone correct or incorrect.



I am an avid cyclist, though not to the extent that Cycleguy007 appears to be.

 

[Damondean]

Wow, what a revelation - morons can be drivers, cyclists or pedestrians.

Nail this individual sidewalk biker, don't tar the whole group. Let's enforce this law.

Yes but more bike riders tend to be self-righteous lefties even as they ride on the sidewalk. Send them all to Holland I say!

 

[Moraff]

I agree with Tboy. It is a pet peeve of mine.
Cement floor is definitely indoors and is unlikely to be accessible by cars and probably not intended to be accessible by bicycles.

So what do you call the stuff in a parking garage then? lol just teasing... I admit I missed the "floor" instead of "road" terminology in the post that spawned this disgression.

But what we call a cement floor is still concrete. Cement is the powder they put with the sand and stone to make concrete. To the best of my knowledge you would never pour a pure cement floor.

 

[Cycleguy007]

Yes but more bike riders tend to be self-righteous lefties even as they ride on the sidewalk. Send them all to Holland I say!

Ya right!

Do YOU ride? Just wondering... Try being on the rec'ving end of some of the ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY horrible drivers on the streets these days....

If a cyclist makes a mistake, he/ she risks injury/ damage to himself or herself and his or her bike... If a driver makes a mistake, he/ she risks injury or damage too MUCH more due to the extra 2,000 lbs of vehicle he or she is supposed to be "controlling".

Just sayin...

 

[Damondean]

Ya right!

Do YOU ride? Just wondering... Try being on the rec'ving end of some of the ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY horrible drivers on the streets these days....

If a cyclist makes a mistake, he/ she risks injury/ damage to himself or herself and his or her bike... If a driver makes a mistake, he/ she risks injury or damage too MUCH more due to the extra 2,000 lbs of vehicle he or she is supposed to be "controlling".

Just sayin...

As a matter of fact I do ride but only recreationally, mostly on Sundays and on selected streets.

The fact is that some streets are JUST NOT SUITABLE for bicycles and should be closed to them. Yonge Street for one. Then we have so-called bicycle lanes that consist of white painted lines whether they make any sense or not. Lansdowne, comes to mind. It is barelly wide enough for two cars. Yet, the city painted nice pictures of a bike and some lines and call it a bicycle lane. And then you have all the jerks riding on the sidewalks on Bloor Street. And the ones who get into you blind spot as you are signalling a right turn. If any of them knew the HTA, they would be on your left as you turn.

It is time for the cops to start dealing with cyclists.

 

[Brill]

As a matter of fact I do ride but only recreationally, mostly on Sundays and on selected streets.

The fact is that some streets are JUST NOT SUITABLE for bicycles and should be closed to them. Yonge Street for one. Then we have so-called bicycle lanes that consist of white painted lines whether they make any sense or not. Lansdowne, comes to mind. It is barelly wide enough for two cars. Yet, the city painted nice pictures of a bike and some lines and call it a bicycle lane. And then you have all the jerks riding on the sidewalks on Bloor Street. And the ones who get into you blind spot as you are signalling a right turn. If any of them knew the HTA, they would be on your left as you turn.

It is time for the cops to start dealing with cyclists.

I agree with your points, but believe all streets should be made suitable for cyclists. Put the parking in off street lots, leave the roads for all manners of commuting and keep cyclists off the sidewalk.

 

[Cycleguy007]

As a matter of fact I do ride but only recreationally, mostly on Sundays and on selected streets.

The fact is that some streets are JUST NOT SUITABLE for bicycles and should be closed to them. Yonge Street for one. Then we have so-called bicycle lanes that consist of white painted lines whether they make any sense or not. Lansdowne, comes to mind. It is barelly wide enough for two cars. Yet, the city painted nice pictures of a bike and some lines and call it a bicycle lane. And then you have all the jerks riding on the sidewalks on Bloor Street. And the ones who get into you blind spot as you are signalling a right turn. If any of them knew the HTA, they would be on your left as you turn.

It is time for the cops to start dealing with cyclists.

Totally agree with the highlighted statement above. I myself have driven many streets I would not even dream of riding on!

Brill makes a good point about having streets safe for both cars AND bikes...

Your last statement is incomplete... may I suggest: "It is time for the cops to start dealing with bad/ inconsiderate cyclists AND bad/ inconsiderate drivers."

 

[fuji]

And the ones who get into you blind spot as you are signalling a right turn. If any of them knew the HTA, they would be on your left as you turn.

Actually the HTA requires them to ride as far right as possible. The HTA makes no sense in this case but that is what it says. The HTA needs an overhaul to deal properly with bicycles.

Note that if there is a bike lane on your right that the cyclist is in then your turn as described is illegal under the HTA.

The safe thing for a cyclist to do is take control of the entire lane, not ride over on the right. If there is in fact a faster vehicle coming up behind the cyclist can then do what any other vehicle would do--pick a safe time to pull right and allow the vehicle to pass, but at a time of the cyclists choosing. In reality in downtown traffic the cyclist is often the faster vehicle and will be the one doing the passing.

A cyclist in control of the entire lane can more sensibly pass left than one following the HTA and riding right. To pass left when you are in the far right of the lane requires you to swerve out, which is a bad idea.

 

[Damondean]

I agree with your points, but believe all streets should be made suitable for cyclists. Put the parking in off street lots, leave the roads for all manners of commuting and keep cyclists off the sidewalk.

Let us get real here. ALL streets safe for cylists? Parking off Street? Like where? Who is going to pay for that? Certianly not the cyclists who are a fraction of the road users and mosty ride in the four or five months of good weather only.

Put money into public transport. Keep the cycling lobby group in check. All they do is read NOW magazine and then only the front sections )

 

[Moraff]

I agree with your points, but believe all streets should be made suitable for cyclists. Put the parking in off street lots, leave the roads for all manners of commuting and keep cyclists off the sidewalk.

Beautiful in theory... impossible in practice.

Who's going to pay to purchase the buildings and tear them down to either replace them with parking lots or rebuild them with a parking garage as part of the building?

There are a couple of roads up the escarpment in Hamilton that I would ban bikes from... at least going uphill. They are (just) two lanes wide with no shoulders. (West 5th and Queen St). While bikes going down can coast at a reasonably close approximation of traffic speed, going up is a whole another story which causes traffic to either bunch up, or pass dangerously close to the cyclist.

I ride down those two roads, I've never considered riding up them.

Short of demolishing a good chunk of the mountain at those points, there's no efficient way to make them wider to incorporate bike lanes.

 

[Brill]

Let us get real here. ALL streets safe for cylists? Parking off Street? Like where? Who is going to pay for that? Certianly not the cyclists who are a fraction of the road users and mosty ride in the four or five months of good weather only.

Put money into public transport. Keep the cycling lobby group in check. All they do is read NOW magazine and then only the front sections )

A car tax. Did you know Denmark has a 180% tax on new vehicles? They also tax gasoline heavily so people think twice about driving.

 

[fuji]

Just up the tax on gasoline until it actually recovers the actual costs that car drivers inflict on society.

Right now everyone subsidizes car driving, which is wrong.

 

[tboy]

Just up the tax on gasoline until it actually recovers the actual costs that car drivers inflict on society.

Right now everyone subsidizes car driving, which is wrong.

so what do you suggest we do to replace the MILLIONS of jobs associated with the auto industry?

Put em on the street? welfare? UI?

I will admit that we North Americans are too wrapped up in the automobile and it's associated industries but to simply wipe the slate clean, or overly tax it, would cause EVERY business to collapse. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

 

[Damondean]

A car tax. Did you know Denmark has a 180% tax on new vehicles? They also tax gasoline heavily so people think twice about driving.

Is that why Shakespeare wrote that "there is something rotten in Denmark?"

 

[Damondean]

From the Star tonight:


http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/678179

The woman who was struck by a cyclist on a sidewalk Thursday evening has died.

This tragedy is a "stark reminder" that bicycles should not be used on sidewalks, police say.

At about 3:30 p.m., the 56-year-old woman was walking south on the west sidewalk of Kennedy Rd. near Sheppard Ave. E. while a 15-year-old boy was cycling north on the same sidewalk. The cyclist may have made a move to avoid the pedestrian, while the pedestrian made a move to avoid the cyclist, police said.

The two collided head on.

The Toronto woman, whose name has not been released, was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital with head trauma. She died just after 5 p.m.

"This is exactly why we don't want bikes on the sidewalks," Sgt. Tim Burrows of Toronto police traffic services said. "They really are made for pedestrians."

The teen cyclist was not injured and did not commit a criminal offence, Staff-Sgt. Brian Bowman said, although the investigating officer will be sitting down with a prosecutor to see if there is any interest in laying charges under city bylaws.

"It's not a good idea to ride a bicycle on a sidewalk but not strictly illegal," Bowman said.

"It's just a tragedy all around."

 

[tboy]

did not commit a criminal offence? He KILLED somebody...jesus H christ.......

 

[fuji]

so what do you suggest we do to replace the MILLIONS of jobs associated with the auto industry?

Fair point. We could use some ofthat gas tax money to pay for transitional education to help them establish new careers. There are probably other projects that we would need to fund as we transition away.

 

[tboy]

don't get me wrong, we eventually have to get out of the POV business. It is too inefficient and too taxing on the environment.

A stop gap measure would be (and I've been harping on this for years) is to offer a tax credit if you live within x kms from your place of business. More if you're closer and less the farther away. Once you pass a certain distance, the taxes are raised exponentially. This applies whether you use public transit or not. (because even an increased load on public transit is hard on the environment).

For eg: if you choose to live in Peterborough, and work at Yonge and Bloor, in addition to the parking, fuel, maintenance costs for your vehicle, you should be taxed an additional 5% on your taxable income. (call this a DUMB tax because you are STUPID to commute that far).

This works in any number of ways:

It will bring tax revenue into the city from people who use the streets, yet don't pay a penny for them (only people who LIVE here and own a commerical building pay for taxes on the streets).

This will shift the load from POV to public transit
This will shift the load of Public transit to eco friendly methods (ie walking).
The tax revenue generated could be used to expand the bike PATH (not lane) system in toronto. I still say with all the rail right of ways and hydro right of ways we have, it'd be easy and relatively inexpensive to create an enclosed year round bike path from the far end of scarborough to the core, out to mississauga, and north to richmond hill.