The Transportation Food Chain
Some cyclists complain to no end about dangerous car drivers, but what about those same cyclists’ cavalier attitude around pedestrians? Welcome to the transportation food chain where bicycles tend to be caught right in the middle.
More and more people are waking up to the fact that bicycles are a favoured and most efficient form of human transportation. These same people are adopting cycling as an alternate form of transportation, particularly for commuting to and from work – RUSH HOUR. Now is the time for serious thought not only on how to keep cyclists safe on our busy streets, but also how to keep everyone safe on multi-use trails and shared paths. As more and more people climb aboard bicycles, it is also time to consider how to avoid accidents and injury on our sidewalks and multi-use trails.
Bicycles are classified as vehicles and subject to the same rules of the road as motorists. In addition, Mississauga by-laws, for example 555-00 43(4), state other bicycle-specific regulations. There have been plenty of cyclists who have been injured, sometimes fatally, as a result of contact with moving automobiles. Subsequently, cyclists are well aware of the importance of riding safely and for the most part ride cautiously. Not because a by-law tells them to, but because they understand the danger should a car make contact – helmet or no helmet. As for pedestrians, they too have a right to safe movement. Subsequently, the city has given them their own safe havens: The sidewalk. There are “shared trails” for both pedestrians and cyclists, however, the sidewalk is currently defined as being for the use of pedestrians.
So the motorists don’t want cyclists on “their” streets and pedestrians don’t want cyclists on their sidewalks…Where do we go from here?
On many multi-use paths, pedestrians have now been assigned the weaker-than status along with their dogs and strollers. Some cyclists on those trails have now adopted a fast-moving king-of-the-road status. Most have seen the “Cyclists Yield to Pedestrians” signs yet choose to ignore them. They think that it hardly seems fair that a cyclist on a trail white-knuckles their handlebars, clinging as closely to the edge as they can to avoid pedestrians, yet that is exactly what cyclists have to do when they ride on road amid the onslaught of fast moving vehicles. Bike lanes and sharrows are an oasis in that arid desert, but Mississauga cyclists still find those hard to come by. There are solutions. Courtesy and consideration are the most obvious ones, however, proactive and insightful options do exist and there are evidence of them everywhere.
Bike freeway in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland
So the motorists don’t want cyclists on “their” streets, pedestrians don’t want cyclists on their sidewalks, and some people don’t want to share park trails with cyclists. If truth be known, cyclists don’t want to be on the sidewalks either. Families with children naturally choose sidewalks in consideration of “safety”. Cyclists would prefer to ride on well marked, well signed, “shared” roadways, however, even for experienced cyclists the “safe” route on the sidewalk is the common sense choice. So, where do we go from here?
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