A study shows it wouldn’t take much for Canadian cities to make life much safer for people on bicycles.
The study shows North American cyclists are up to 30 times more likely to be injured than their counterparts in such European countries as the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany.
The report, appearing in the Journal Injury Prevention, contains several recommendations, including dedicated bicycle lanes on Canadian roads.
And, it adds a better idea is to have a physical barrier between lanes used by vehicles and those for bikes.
The researchers who did the study say those barriers don’t have to be expensive.
They say a row of planters is often enough to provide a protective barrier between drivers and bicyclists.
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Except of course that 90% of 4-lane roadways in Toronto really only have 2 traffic lanes most of the day because of on-street parking, and as a result slow down a great deal with only moderate traffic volume because of left turns blocking traffic. If we reduced 4 lanes to 3 and either had parking on one side only (where parking is desirable) or a centre turn lane (where traffic volume is an issue) then we could accommodate a full lane dedicated to bi-directional bike traffic while retaining all or most of the effective traffic capacity of the road.
The issue I see happening now is that we haven’t allocated our road widths to accommodate the cycling lanes, so thus we’re converting what used to be 4 lane roads into 2 lanes to make room for the cycling paths. The problem here is that with more cars on the road, we’ve just congested our vehicular traffic to accommodate for the very few. Now the traffic that used to flow nicely along many of these roads are backed up as cars are forced to merge into one lane. An even bigger frustration is when there is a sidewalk which nobody uses that people could safely ride on. But legally are not supposed to use. Riding on the sidewalk on Davenport Road in Waterloo is much different than trying to ride on the sidewalk down King Street in UpTown Waterloo, pedestrians dictate that safety. As a bicyclist, vehicle motorist, and motorcyclist, I’m noticing that many people do not follow the new white line and are constantly driving in the bike lanes anyway. In the end the lanes are safer, but are causing more frustrations for the vehicle traffic, which in turn, will end up killing the cyclist…a person in a car with road rage always wins that battle.
The devils-advocate of the story above also says that cyclist need to pay attention and follow the rules of the road. I see too many people having to break quickly only because of a cyclist crossing the street where they shouldn’t be, or against the red light. I really feel more ownership needs to be put on the cyclists to legally go about their use of the road, very few actually follow the laws or even know them at all. Driving test for cyclists?