MTO Approves Bike Crossings
The use of these at a specific intersection requires careful consideration
Jim Bradley, Minister of Transportation, sent a letter of approval to Mayor Hazel McCallion and the City of Mississauga for the use of ride-through bike lanes, otherwise known as “Crossrides”. This letter includes the proposed design for these crossrides. City staff is now reviewing the approval and looking into the possibility of a pilot project. The use of these at a specific intersection requires careful consideration of a number of issues, but most importantly safety. Crossride bike crossings, in theory, would allow cyclists on a bike path to cross the roadway at an intersection without the requirement to dismount the bicycle.
Elephant's feet "crossride" markings beside zebra striped pedestrian crosswalk
Zilco Nottingham:
October 8th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Wow, this is good. One lousy thing about using those off-the-road lanes is that you have to stop, get off your bike, WALK it across the intersection, get back on,…
…and all this even if the light is GREEN!
Irfan Siddiqui:
September 25th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
It’s for our own safety!!!
Most drivers will not look carefully when making right turns. Therefore i think it is a good idea to walk accross the intersection.
I think the City should try to put up signs for no right turns on redlight like they have in most areas of Downtown Toronto. I think it will reduce alot of the collisions aswell.
Allan Harder:
October 6th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I agree about closing out right hand turns on red. The driver in me gets a little cross-eyed at that idea. Yet when I think of it, when I drive in Mississauga I’m rarely at the front of the line for a red which means I have to wait for a green anyway to turn right.
It seems that experienced cyclists on the actual roads have a clear safety and efficiency advantage at the intersections. They can (and should) cycle on the left hand side of cars turning right. When on a boulevard trail, you don’t have that option. Thus the pilot of the “cross-rides”. Yes, it will take effort in getting the word out to auto drivers and cyclists. Education is key. I see these crossrides as a move toward safer crossings for cyclists. As always, it is still the cyclists’ responsibility to be keenly aware of vehicles around the intersection when making a crossing.
Henry:
October 7th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Re: Right turn on red
One of the things that irritate me the most is a car blocking the entire crosswalk while trying to turn right on red. A lot of times, this is just plain ignorance from drivers, but from my experience as a driver, I find that I needeto edge way ahead of the white line in order to see traffic in some intersections.
Ideally, for safety’s sake, there should be no right turning on red, and all left turns should have their own dedicated signals