Balanced Editorial about cyclists, motorists and the law

[Angry Chicken]

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=2118551

The link is to a balanced and fair editorial about cyclists and motorists and the law.  No name-calling, hyperbole, finger-pointing or reactionary/activist tantrums in evidence.

Citation:  Christopher Beam, www.slate.com (link is to Nationalpost.com editorial)

[rrocket]

I was right in downtown Toronto this past week...something I try desperately to avoid.  So I was able to see first hand how biker's operate in TO.  In the minimal time I was there, I saw repeated law-breaking by cyclists.  Over and over again.  Rolling stops. Turning without signaling.  Lane splitting (this seemed "normal" and occurred at every stop so they could get to the front of the line).  Even more appalling than their behaviour, was the lack of safety equipment.  I saw more cyclist without helmets than with.  I only saw one cyclist with some type of rear-view mirrors set-up (it was built into his helmet).

Overall I was shocked by how poorly the laws were followed by cyclists.  REALLY shocked.  Maybe it's just because there's hardly any bike traffic in Windsor so I wasn't prepared/used to this hoolaganism.  Worse yet, the police I saw downtown didn't seem to care. 

I know cyclists want equal treatment...but for that to happen they at least have to start obeying basic traffic laws and not riding like they're in some X-games competition.

[quadzilla]

Its funny as I cycle downtown almost every day and see all the same things. What is just as funny is that I see people with cars/motorcycles doing all the same things. Then throw in pedestrians and its near chaos down there. I really think the bigger the city the less people give a about others.

What needs to happen is people need to stop and breathe and realize the world isn't ending in 2012 and enjoy life.

[rrocket]

Its funny as I cycle downtown almost every day and see all the same things. What is just as funny is that I see people with cars/motorcycles doing all the same things. Then throw in pedestrians and its near chaos down there. I really think the bigger the city the less people give a about others.

What needs to happen is people need to stop and breathe and realize the world isn't ending in 2012 and enjoy life.

I dunno...I didn't see cars rolling stops.  I didn't see motorcycles lane splitting.  I'm sure it happens.  But for the short time I was downtown, all of the offenders were on bicycles...

[The Mighty Duck]

I read that column and thought it was quite good. I also think that the biggest problem Slate has - cyclists running stop signs - could be easily solved by installing more roundabouts. Everything I read about roundabouts extols their virtues, but we North Americans seem afraid of them.

The City of Kingston just approved a bunch of new four-way stops to "calm traffic", against the advice of traffic experts. Why? They're cheaper than any of the alternatives.

[dorin]

I see orders of magnitude more motorists rolling stop signs than cyclists, whether I'm driving or riding.  

[rrocket]

I see orders of magnitude more motorists rolling stop signs than cyclists, whether I'm driving or riding.  

Well I guess I was just (un)lucky.  But in my 1/2 hour or so downtown, it wasn't even close.  Cyclist by FAR were breaking more laws than cars.  The lane splitting was crazy too....It was a fricken zoo.  I just couldn't believe how crazy the cyclists behaved...

[quadzilla]

Its funny as I cycle downtown almost every day and see all the same things. What is just as funny is that I see people with cars/motorcycles doing all the same things. Then throw in pedestrians and its near chaos down there. I really think the bigger the city the less people give a about others.

What needs to happen is people need to stop and breathe and realize the world isn't ending in 2012 and enjoy life.

I dunno...I didn't see cars rolling stops.  I didn't see motorcycles lane splitting.  I'm sure it happens.  But for the short time I was downtown, all of the offenders were on bicycles...

Trust me, I see it every day. I even see cars using the bike lane just to get ahead.

The lane splitting was crazy too....

When you say lane splitting, is this when a cyclist passes between the car and curb or when they ride between the lanes?

[rrocket]

^^Between cars!!  They split between cars, not on the curb side.

Like I said..I don't doubt the cars misbehave...but during the time there, it was all the cyclist being hooligans...

Maybe it's worse during the lunch hour?

[X-Traction]

Some people live in an alternate universe where:

Cyclists don't come to a complete stop for stop signs, but motorists do. 
Motorists always signal for turns while cyclists usually don't. 
Cyclists don't pay taxes. 
Accidents between motorists and cyclists are always the cyclists' fault. 
Cyclists frighten pedestrians from going outside. 
Motorists aren't speeding unless they're going more than twice the posted limit. 
Cyclists are vulnerable to head injuries but motorists are not.

On the subject of lane splitting...
Motorists use the particular properties of their vehicles, such as the capability to violate the speed limit, to further their interests.  While reasonable lane sharing by cyclists is explicitly sanctioned by the traffic laws; lane splitting, which could be considered unreasonable lane sharing, also uses a particular property of the vehicle (narrowness) to further the users' interests.  I fail to see what makes motorist speeding different from cyclist lane splitting. Except of course that the motorist is a great danger to everyone else. 

And btw, it's uncommon, but I do see motorcyclists lane splitting.

[X-Traction]

On the same subject as the National Post article, did anyone catch the CBC documentary about these same issues a couple of weeks ago?  I was amazed to see a program that really got it right about what cyclists are subjected to in North American cities.  I think it was mostly produced in Toronto.

[rrocket]

Some people live in an alternate universe where:

Cyclists don't come to a complete stop for stop signs, but motorists do. 
Motorists always signal for turns while cyclists usually don't. 
Cyclists don't pay taxes. 
Accidents between motorists and cyclists are always the cyclists' fault. 
Cyclists frighten pedestrians from going outside. 
Motorists aren't speeding unless they're going more than twice the posted limit. 
Cyclists are vulnerable to head injuries but motorists are not.

Perhaps.  But I'm not one of those people.  As a motorcyclist, I'm keenly aware of how I've often gotten the wrong end of the stick from a car.  I'm just reporting what I saw.  And by FAR the cyclists were the majority of the morons on this day.  And not that it matters, but cars speeding/breaking the law doesn't justify bikes lane splitting.

FWIW, while I was walking around on the street at night, I noticed ALOT of odd people talking to themselves. Nobody besides them...just in their own world talking to themselves loud enough for me to hear.  I'm I wrong about that too??  I'm just reporting what I saw on this particular day..

[Angry Chicken]

Those odd people? Leafs fans. ;-)

[safristi]

..NO...........they have all been Rogered in the Airey Chrisna Centre.............

[quadzilla]

Did some stats this morning on my ride.

Cars
red lights = 4
running stop sign = 1 (didn't even try to roll it)
not looking before exiting driveway = 1
driving too close to cyclist = 1

EDIT Forgot to include the near door prize I got also. I just loved when the person said it wasn't intentional. I almost shoved my front tire up her ass and said, don't worry, that wasn't either.

Cyclist
red lights = 3
wrong way on one way street = 1

Pedestrians
Too many too count.

[X-Traction]

Last night I happened to see a news item, from Toronto, I believe.  A motorist was driving at an estimated 200kph on what looked like a surface street.  This driver's car t-boned a minvan, killing three of the people inside and tearing the van in half.  I thought of this topic and how sickening it seemed that people will natter on and on about cyclists breaking traffic laws, when I have never heard of a single motor vehicle occupant being even injured from a wayward cyclist running into them.  Let's worry about the more serious problems first.

[No H2O]

I have never heard of a single motor vehicle occupant being even injured from a wayward cyclist running into them.

Oh I'm sure a few have been injured or killed due to having to take evasive action to avoid that cyclist.

Like that inbred cyclist who while stopped at the boulevard divider just decided to dart out across the road on a red light that had been red and stayed red for a while. I almost hit him.

Then that other inbred who on a country back road decided to do a 180 without looking and almost took me and my motorcycle out. Geez, I wonder who was going to pay for my motorcycle if it got written off...I don't carry collision coverage.

The bottom line is, what makes people think that everyone has the right and ability to drive a motor vehicle or bicycle. I hope most of them aren't my airline pilot.

[kardood69]

Don't worry, the airline pilots are too busy with laptops!

[X-Traction]

I have never heard of a single motor vehicle occupant being even injured from a wayward cyclist running into them.

Oh I'm sure a few have been injured or killed due to having to take evasive action to avoid that cyclist.

Probably, but even if these cases exist, I doubt the numbers add up to a significant problem, even without comparing to the number of motorists injured or killed by having to take evasive action to avoid other motorists.

One time while I was driving in the curb lane, a cyclist coming toward me on the adjacent sidewalk fell off the sidewalk right in front of me.  I didn't have time to determine if I could swerve, so I relied on braking.  It was adequate.  I wasn't upset because there was nothing else I could have done, and I wouldn't have been hurt.

Many years ago while cycling at night, I was making a slow uphill left turn when I caught a glimpse of a shadow about a foot from my face, then felt a tremendous impact.  As I lay on the road, I considered what might have happened.  It couldn't have been a pedestrian - too severe for that.  Not a car, not violent enough.  It HAD to have been a cyclist.  So I looked over, and laying a few feet from me was another cyclist and his bike.  He'd been speeding down the hill, with no lights on.  Our heads hit each other.  He was not wearing a helmet.  (It wouldn't surprise me if he had also been riding with no hands.)  Fortunately I was, so my helmet protected both of us.

I jumped up, grabbed his bike and began shouting about police and lawsuits and so forth.  I thought I had a concussion until I figured out that my glasses were crooked.  We determined neither of us or our bikes were damaged, so I took no further action.  Later I had some doubt if my headlight was working, since only recently has industry been able to produce reliable bicycle lights.

However, had this incident involved a car, the outcome would have been grave.

[articsteve]

Apparently 100,000 bicycles enter Manhattan, NYC, everyday although you would not know it.  The chances of being killed or seriously injured there by vehicles must make Toronto seem like Amsterdam in comparison.