Police Trap : For Cyclists?

grumpy old man wrote:Nah, not devil's advocate. Sh1te disturber/playful.

Same thing

Although I think I'll now call you Puck.

Road maintenance isn't only funded by car-associated fees and taxes.

Also, supporting green modes of transportation should be in everyone's best interest. The less cars there are on the road, the better for cars that are driving, too. No traffic jams.

Agreed anny. But there are simply no bikes on the road between November/December and February/March.

Being a realist... ...it is okay to create cyclist infrastructure but not at the expense of the single largest user, and payer, of roads.

grumpy old man wrote:Agreed anny. But there are simply no bikes on the road between November/December and February/March.

Being a realist... ...it is okay to create cyclist infrastructure but not at the expense of the single largest user, and payer, of roads.

I see some nutcases, err, cyclists, on the roads even in the dead of winter. Not a whole lot, mind you, but some brave souls wiling to risk their lives.

True. Should we pander to the one in 250,000 who wishes to ride his bike in winter? Don't forget the roads are in bad condition, especially near the curb. They pose a real danger to themselves and others when cycling in those conditions.

I would bike in the winter if it weren't so dangerous - ie. bike lanes or paths where there's no trouble of a car swerving into me. Cyclists will take longer routes if they're safer. I don't need to go down Osborne if there's a bike path going through the adjoining communities.

I wonder if there are streets with homeowners that would agree to bike only streets except for local access for commuting times. For example, Wellington Crescent is car-free on Sundays and holidays so it only makes sense to use that street if you're going east-west along Portage.

Motorists complain so badly about bike lanes and the winter, etc, etc, but it's more widely used in other larger cities, with larger vehicle populations. I really like the lanes in Montreal.

Parking | bike lane with raised concrete barriers of about 2" | car lane

What about just getting rid of street parking on certain streets to turn them into bike lanes/turning lanes?

We cannot afford to maintain the roads that we presently have, never mind building an entire bike network to be used mostly just seasonally.

It should be on the list, but rather far down at this point in time imo.

What about the path by Gateway? It's used by more than cyclists - pedestrians, a safe place for kids trying out new bikes, etc.

It would also require less maintenance after the initial investment. It's more akin to paving a sidewalk.

What about just modifying the existing roads?

It wouldn't be hard to put in bike lanes in the spring when the city is painting the main roads with the lane lines. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to say that you need to put a 3 metre wide lane line from downtown to the perimeter along Portage Ave in the curb lane, along Ellice Ave from downtown to Ferry Road. Main Street from downtown to the north perimter, Henderson Highway from the base of the freeway to the perimetre, St Mary's Road from the Norwood Bridge to the perimetre, Pembina Highway from confusion corner to the perimetre. At least on Regent from Kildonan Place Shopping Centre to Plessis Road the curb lane is designated as a cycling lane (although it is a sharrow and not restictive). There are others that are also designated but only for a short portion of the way and there are also alternate streets that are designated as cycling routes but why do we need to be that restrictive, I like to travel by cycle to work in the most effectient manner and that sometimes means I have to travel on the main routes.

"I wonder if there are streets with homeowners that would agree to bike only streets except for local access for commuting times. "

Which is the biggest time that bikes would be used... ie for commuting.. so it kind of loses its luster as an idea no?

"What about just getting rid of street parking on certain streets to turn them into bike lanes/turning lanes?"

Where do the homeowners park cars then? You know.. the home owners who are paying the taxes for the street maintenance? Its not a completely bad idea, but it would require 100% approval of all homeowners on that street and that would be difficult if not impossible to get.

I for one completely hate these moronic sharrows. All they will do is give cyclists a false sense of security.

holly, great idea! On streets that are quite wide, especially those with generous parking lanes (like Sherbrook, for example), why not just put in a bike lane? We could have it in dotted yellow or white to show motorists that it's just for the season. It could just be a more defined separation of the parking lane so that cars would know when they've parked too far into the street.

I'm not sure that the existing roads were made to accomodate an additional 'lane' for bikes. I think that part of the problem is that we have very inconsistant roadways. But if it's just a matter of painting lines, they should be doing so wherever possible.

No, FOR commuting times.

I didn't mean residential streets. I mean main streets, like along Portage Avenue.

We don't need bike lanes on every street - just a couple or a few main routes going north-south and east-west, spread out across the city.

Sharrows are better than nothing. Cars don't respect the space a cyclist needs because they DON'T KNOW the law...

"Cars don't respect the space a cyclist needs because they DON'T KNOW the law..."
I disagree with that statement.
It has nothing to do with the law in my opinion. Its because cyclists are slower AND because cyclists break the law too often and it pisses people off and makes them want to break the law as well.

How many times do you need to legally pass a cyclist who is going 50% of the posted speed limit. Only to arrive at a red light and have that cyclist weave in and out of the parked cars and end up illegally at the front of the line again...before you get pissed off at him?

Maybe when I stop seeing cyclists regularly ignoring 4 ways stop signs, making illegal turns, and hopping curbs onto sidewalks during traffic delays, I'll start to take their complaints seriously. The vast MAJORITY of cyclists I see everyday completely ignore the HTA that governs all vehicles on public roads including bicycles.

We have quite a few avid cyclists at my worklace and most will freely admit to blowing through stop signs and red lights if "they see it's all clear", because they are slowed down by them. Excuse me? Guess what, stop signs and red lights cost me time too but I dont get to choose to ignore them because the intersection is clear. I for one am glad to see the police out enforcing the laws for cyclists as well.

I've had far too many come flying out in front of me in my neighbourhood at 2 way stop signs, where I've had the right of way and they choose to ignore the stop sign in their direction of travel. One of these days one of them is going to get broadsided by a vehicle they didn't see in their rush to save time and it will be the evil drivers fault they are dead.

Once the majority start following the majority of traffic laws then we can start talking about special lanes. Till then suck it up.

^
Oh, but besides that, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln?

anny wrote:I would bike in the winter if it weren't so dangerous - ie. bike lanes or paths where there's no trouble of a car swerving into me. Cyclists will take longer routes if they're safer. I don't need to go down Osborne if there's a bike path going through the adjoining communities.

But we'd have to clear all those paths of snow and ice. Not sure this is a cost effective process given that you and one other cyclist will be using those paths.

If there were actual usable paths that were kept clear in the winter time. I would wager a guess that in normal winter temps ( above -25) the paths would be very well used.

Chicken and egg type thing though as there is no way of validating that statement without doing it. And if we are wrong, well damn.. thats a huge expense wasted.

There are some paths today. How well used are they?

I doubt that our streets can be rejigged to allow for paths to be consistant. What's the point of a hit-and-miss path?

where are these paths GOM and how often are they cleared... and ... more to the point where do they get you? Half way to downtown?

I disagree with your disagreement!

I think cyclists break laws on purpose. Motorists, on the other hand, hold a double standard. Many are annoyed that the cyclist will pull up next to them at a red light, but think nothing of doing the same to a cyclist. Or, they get annoyed at a cyclist who's biking past on their right (aka passing), but will pass dangerously close to a cyclist. Cyclists realize they're breaking a law when they do that. It's obvious because we're so small compared to a car. I have made the mistake of biking up next to an irate motorist who sneaks his car over. I don't do that any more. I learned my lesson, but if there's a metre of space - heck yeah I'll bike up - especially if a pedestrian's planning to walk, making a car wait to turn, whereas I could go straight immediately. I don't think cars think twice about the 3 metres or that a cyclist has every right to the lane.

Yeah, I will admit I do break laws when I cycle.

If it is ALL CLEAR, I will go through a red light. I rarely do this anymore, though, because the double standard got to me and I feel guilty doing it. It's only at the extremely long lights where there are no pedestrians, no cars, and it looks like someone pressed the walk button and jaywalked or the lights have been set up inefficently. Otherwise, I'll wait.

I slow down almost to a stop for stop signs and check if there are no other cars/pedestrians around. I STOP for pedestrians and take my turn with any other vehicle on the road. I don't want to die, after all. Cars roll through stop signs ALL the freakin' time. It annoys the heck out of me when they do that AND there are other cars/pedestrians/cyclists trying to use the same intersection. It's FAR more dangerous for a car to run a red or a stop sign than a cyclist. And what about stopping behind the sidewalk?? How many cars follow that?

I will also pop on the sidewalk if the road is dangerous, it's raining hard, etc. But I will dismount if there's a pedestrian using the sidewalk and no safe way around (narrow sidewalk).

Is there a map of existing paths on the City website?