vic.gedris.org Never mind the blogs, here's the website.

Last Friday a cabbie tried to murder a cyclist. Luckily for the cyclist he got away with his life, sadly he lost a leg. I have been watching and waiting for the outrage that I expected would follow such an event. Other than a few news stories, it has been rather quiet to say the least. This was the ultimate form of road rage against a cyclist, second only to a killing.

Then maybe I should not be surprised by the lack of response. You have told me that the majority of you are on the receiving end of road rage at least once every couple of weeks if not more often. Yet at the same time you find it is best to ignore than confront, simply accepting it as something you have to put up with when you ride Toronto streets. You want to spend more time concentrating on the better aspects of riding. You should be applauded for this, life is too short to be involved in daily agro’.

As an aside, this begs a practical question. How do you encourage new cyclists to suck up and ignore road rage without scaring the bejeezus out of them?

The cyclist lost his leg. No matter how he is compensated or who is punished, it will have major repercussions for him for the rest of his life. None of which he deserves. He does deserve some outrage. Asking where it is, will in no doubt result in a very complex and personal answer.

Looked out my window last night and saw the initial markings for a bike lane on Pharmacy Ave. A few years late but it looks like it will finally get its due. Wonder though if the weather may put a damper on it?

Biggest problem with Pharmacy Ave, especially my section, is that when the cars hit something they tend to hit one of our houses, property or the bus stop. Neighbour, who lives behind me, tells me that his garage was totalled a few years ago by a car that careened off of Pharmacy and slammed into it. Will the bike lanes change the nature of the street enough to change that?

This is greenwashing at its best. The province will allow trucks to haul trailers next spring that are 16 metres longer than the longest trucks currently on our roads. So the overall allowable length will go from 25 metres to 41 metres. That is over 100 feet for us imperial folks. They are trying to sell this as an environmental solution, same tractor trailer carrying more of a load. Less fuel used per ton carried and less pollution per ton carried. Economies of scale, the longer you make the trailer, the more you save. Has no one at Queen’s Park heard of trains?

Allowing these longer trucks on our roads is being called a pilot project. They have to see how many more people get killed by them versus have much money is saved.  I will make a prediction for 2009. We will see sideguards made mandatory on trucks by the end of 2009. This will be the result of the number drivers being fatally sideswiped by these large rigs. Queen’s Park will not wait years to act if drivers complain. If these new large rig only kill cyclists all bets are off.

-photo by Vic Gedris

Anne Tran and Vic Gedris have been bringing attention to the sudden proliferation of Ghost Bikes in and around City streets. Ghost Bikes have come to symbolize respect for cyclists who have lost their lives while riding.

These new Ghost Bikes are not about respect but rather a shameful marketing ploy to get more attention to the ‘Ride to Conquer Cancer’. Did no one at the Princess Margaret Hospital do any research? If we can forgive them for this lack of good taste, they add further insult by locking these bikes to very scarce posts taking even more parking away from cyclists.

It should be noted that not all of the bikes are painted white, I have seen a few yellow ones too. Not to confuse the yellow ones though with CBN’s now defunct rental ‘Yellow Bike” program.

IbikeTO.ca is reporting that Vancouver’s bicycle mag ‘Momentum’ has put out a call for submissions for their new Toronto centric 16 page section. While Momentum is a great mag why did it take them so long to realize people ride bicycles in Toronto? Did they not understand the Toronto market? Or maybe they have to expand their market in the face of economic uncertainty.

The timing is a little off. Dandyhorse just got off the ground with its first issue, a pretty spectacular one at that. Though it still needs time to find a following and grow its roots. It is hard to find cycling advertising dollars, having competition at this point in the game will not help. End of the day though, its business. May the best mag win.

News has it that bike lanes will be installed on the disputed part of Annette St. This is a great win for those cyclists who fought hard for the bike lanes and were not willing to accept sub-standard consolation prizes. While nothing can take away from the work these cyclists did there is one big question lurking in the background. If it took this much effort, in a supposed politically easier area, to install 700 metres of bike lanes how big of a fight are we in for the rest of the Bike Plan. Do cyclists have enough resources and staying power for such a challenge? We were led to believe in the beginning of the year that this should have been a cake walk with the bigger “fights” yet to come. I really do not like all of the war like language being used to describe these issues.

I had a quick word with Martin Reis, a member of the group intervening on behalf of cyclists, about the ‘Mink Mile’ challenge. It seems like it was a complete loss to the City. We did not get into specific details but he said it lost on all counts with the court deciding that the City has complete jurisdiction in the matter. While on the face of things it looks bad there is some good news. This challenge demonstrated that there are alternate means to challenge cycling unfriendly efforts in the courts with little to no risk of resources. While going willy nilly with these challenges would be unproductive, it is time to look at what challenges can be undertaken in a similar fashion that would have a better chance to succeed.

For now, what it means for that stretch of Bloor is that it will probably not see a bike lane for the next 50 years. How many of you remember Councillor Heaps proclaiming his support for bike lanes on Bloor during the ‘Bells on Bloor’ ride? He was absent during this whole debate even though he is supposed to be our chief advocate.

…Mike Soroka, co-owner of the Flower Room on Annette Street and an opponent of the bike lanes, said his walk-in business would likely sink 30 per cent because of the bike lanes and the lack of parking.

“I am little bit shocked that they are not willing to share the road,” he said. “A lot of the cyclists, they don’t have lights on the bike at night, they don’t follow the rules of the road. And I don’t think it’s fair. I think it’s gone too far the other way…” -Globe and Mail

Yes of course because a few cyclists are bad, or are perceived that way, they deserve nothing. This intolerant rationale hails from the ’50s and ’60s. You know those news clips you see where the interviewee is telling everyone that black Americans do not deserve rights because the bible says they are not equals while in the background they are hanging one.

While there is no comparison in terms of severity they both share the basic ‘il’-logic. There are many other historical examples where this stupidity is used. Let us forget that for a moment. Who is not sharing? The cars get 14 metres of the public space and cyclists four. The pedestrians get a share too, at least four metres.

It would be easy to wish this business to go bankrupt. It would be the worst thing to happen in this situation. These are the types of business that should thrive when streets are made more hospitable to all of its users. If you are in need of flowers in the future consider buying them in this shop to help ease the owner out of his illogical fears.

The Flower Room 776 Annette Street, Toronto, ON M6S 2E2
Telephone : 416-766-4888

HONK!!! HONK!!! HONK!!! Stupid cyclists…

Dude take it easy. Please do not hit him.

HONK!!! HONK!!! HONK!!! …get out of my way!

Dude! He is not wearing a costume.

HONK!…

Dude. He is a real cop!

CM was great fun last night. Even fifty cops showed up to partake in the fun. Unfortunately, for them … or maybe not, they were mistaken as being all dressed up for Halloween.

They started the ride with a little introduction.Told us how they supported us and our call for bike lanes. They said we need more of them. Where else would the City put free parking. They told us that they would do all of the corking. Things went pretty well though the cops got a little frustrated when there was an attempt at a dispersion 20 minutes into the ride.

Much fun had by all. Some people were perturbed by the cops’ presence, especially such a large one. I do not like it either but at least they were not obnoxious like last month. At least we could focus on interacting with the community and give them a taste of what change could look like.

Another great routine by the Critical Sass girls at the beginning of the ride. Some people even brought candy to hand to pedestrians. The ride was 90 minutes old when the cops decided they had enough and went home, apparently it was shift change and no overtime budget for them. There was a die hard bunch of about 20 ‘massers at the end that still wanted to the ride to go on, this was at about the two hour mark. One even asked some cops that were lingering around to stay behind to keep our numbers up.

It will be several years before another CM and Halloween fall on the same night… costumes can be worn at any CM anytime of the year. Anyone notice the impostor cop. So good that he got ordered by another cop in charge to support corking an intersection.

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Me thinks this is a hoax. Someone is pushing a free bicycle clinic supposedly headed up by the infamous Igor. If it really is Igor he has to be pretty brave coming out in public like this, I am sure there are a few yahoos out there that would like to take matters into their own hands and tune him up. If it is a hoax, they will have certainly attracted the wrong type of crowd, angry cyclists and a whole lot of cops.

While Sarah Palin costumes will be all the rage this year, I think Igor costumes will come in a close second with cyclists.

McGillicuddy // Oct 27, 2008 at 1:12 pm

Cyclists:
Igor’s Free Winter Tune-up
Trinity-Bellwoods Park
Saturday, November 1, ‘08
2 to 6pm

It is not very hard to make this prediction for 2009. The City will excuse the lack of progress in implementing the Bike Plan in 2009 by blaming the global economic crisis. If they cannot do it when things are good how could anyone expect them to do it when things are bad. Here is a thought. In 2008 they said they could not find anyone to paint the stripes. Sounds like there will be lots of unemployed, or so economists tell us, people next year. Think they would be more than happy with a job painting stripes and helping the City play catch up. Hmm, the City they will need to find a better excuse that has no solution. Like they cannot do it because they must first study the fumes caused by the paint to see if it makes passerby’s high.

There is going to be quite the BBQ on Annette St.

Here is what is happening in a nutshell. Cyclists want bike lanes on Annette St, businesses on Annette want nothing to do with them. Ergo, you have a conflict. This is a “battle” that neither is going to win.

Here are the losers in this.

Cyclists want a bike lane on Annette and have done a very good job of communicating that. They were offered ’sharrows’ which were wisely rejected. Win or lose, future bike lane requests will be reminded of the ugliness of this battle. The future ramifications of this is no reason for cyclists to give up on Annette nor is the ugliness their fault.

Merchants are fearful for their livelihoods. They have every right to be, it is how they put food on their families table. Contrary to people saying that it is a simple issue it is not, we are talking about affecting some pretty personal issues. The merchants believe that taking away parking will affect their business, although shortsighted, they do have a point. This is not a Bloor St where the main transportation is anything but the car. Councillor Mammoliti today punished merchants in his ward by reducing their parking spots in an effort to control the business’ seedier clients. So contrary to any City studies that tell us the reduction of parking will not hurt business the good bare chested Councillor uses parking reduction as a bat to do just that.

Even still, I think the merchants are missing the long term issue of how they will get customers the next time gas shoots above $1.50 litre.  Win or lose, the merchants will suffer. Either they will spend years being bitter about the bikelanes or will have lost an opportunity to attract future customers who do not rely on cars. Those customers will sooner or later, probably as soon as the next hurricane, make up the majortiy of consumers.

So are there winners in this? Most definitely. Councillor Heaps and Saundercook.

If they go in, Heaps claims it as a victory which he uses to cover the year’s shortcomings. Loses and he has a perfect scapegoat, a new Case Ootes, he can parade around the neighbourhood before slicing its throat and throwing it on the coals. Well, actually he would probably ensure he is around for a long time as the real Ootes is getting pretty long in the tooth.

If they do not go in Saundercook becomes champion of the Annette merchants. If they do go in he will have a powerful scare tatic and will give him free riegn to interfere in other wards.

Essentially they both get scapegoats no matter what happens.

Not a very pretty picture. There could have been another way around it. The merchants and cyclists could be on the same page and making their politicians what they should be, political servants. Recognizing one another’s issues and making the street more attractive to consumers and cyclists then telling the politicians how to do it. The onus to take this path is not on the shoulders of the merchants or cyclists, they simply do not have the resources. This should be facilitated with their tax dollars, instead of the money being used as it is now on hapless City staff and their endless studies. The problem is not the merchants nor cyclists, it is the politicians who only need the meat for their BBQ.

I wonder if scapegoat is better served on the BBQ or curried.

Dear Mayor and Councillors,

Thank you for you recognizing the growing importance of walking and cycling in addressing both our transportation challenges and our public health.

Please consider installing bike lanes on Annette instead of sharrows so that safety is improved and more people can choose to cycle in the City.

I am a Health Promoter at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre. I work with a group of experienced cyclists to improve conditions for cycling and walking in the areas surrounding our health centre here in the South East part of Toronto.  The group was active in promoting Bike Lanes on Dundas St. East. and continues to work with the community and City staff to implement other infrastructure supportive of cycling and pedestrians.

Recently we engaged with Transportation Services to review and evaluate sharrows installed on Dundas St. E. over the Don Valley Bridge.  Discussions to date indicate that sharrows as developed by the Transport Association of Canada  (TAC) are not intended to create space for cyclists, rather they are intended to show cyclists the correct position to ride on the road (the ideal distance from curb).

This is a fundamental distinction.  A bike lane in contrast demarcates a space for the cyclist and a space for the car.  The separated space is critical in providing a sense of safety because the drivers generally
respect the line.  The City’s Cycling Masterplan cites safety as the number one concern for would-be cyclists.  The number one preferred safety improvement cited by the report was the installation of more bike lanes.

Photos taken approximately one year after the sharrows were installed on Dundas E. show that 80% of the cars (between 5 and 6 P.M.) routinely drive over the sharrows - even when cyclists are present.  As a result cyclists cannot ride in the proper location as demarcated by the sharrow because the car is on the sharrow.

Sharrows and bike lanes by definition serve two very different purposes.  I urge you to install bike lanes on Annette as an effective measure to improve safety for cyclists of all skill levels.

If you have any questions or would like to see the photos please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks you for your work on this issue.

Paul Young, health promoter,
South Riverdale Community Health Centre

955 Queen St. East Toronto, ON

Today I had a big bad TTC bus driver try to run me down for the crime of stopping at a red light. This happened in the northbound curb lane of Victoria Park Ave at Denton at approximately 5:15pm today. I was stopped there for at least 15 seconds before I heard him approach. He started blowing his horn and making like he was going to rear end me. I decided to ignore him, I did not even look at him, and wait for the light to change.

When the light changed I decided to turn around to get a look at him at which point he flipped me the bird. So after threatening to run me down he gives me the finger. I turned around and got in front of him. A pretty stupid move on my part as all I could do is hope that he would not be willing to kill me if he was staring right at me. I asked him what his problem was. He started motioning that I should be sitting on the curb when stopped at a red light, you know the spot where all the tread marks are from the bus as it rounds the corner. Luckily he decided not to kill me even after I photographed his pug.

Sorry the photo is from a cell phone but he does have a very distinguishing feature, he has a long beard that is gray/white down the middle. It sorta looks like he has a skunk’s tail taped to his chin. My advice to you is that if you run across this driver treat him as a very dangerous individual in control of a large killing machine.

Do you know how long he was delayed by me waiting for the red light? From the point where he brought his bus to a complete stop to the light turning green for us was 10 seconds, if that.

Luckily I stopped telling people a long time ago I have seen it all before because this would be a situation where I would be eating my words. This is so bizarre.

So cyclist and motorist are involved in a collision. It was minor with no injuries, just damage to the bike’s wheel. Instead of running away like most drivers do, this one decided to stay put and not run. I guess he should get some credit for not running. But stay put he did. He would not budge. He would not move half a metre so the cyclist could pull out his bike from underneath the wheel. Due to his refusal the cyclist could not clear out of the way of the streetcar - this was rush hour on King St. today. Hence major unnecessary traffic jam. The driver did not move for over 10 minutes.

The cyclist’s story was that he was to the right, in the curb lane, of the driver who was in the centre lane. The driver decided to suddenly pull to the right, the cyclist avoided a collision at this point by pulling to the left of the car. The driver decided to then suddenly pull back into the centre lane striking the cyclist who had almost completed passing him. I did not get the driver’s side of the story, he was being very obnoxious and unapproachable.

Regardless of whose fault it is in this collision what is with the driver’s deal of not wanting to move slightly to help clear the roadway. A passenger who got off the blocked streetcar told the driver quite correctly, “This is not a CSI major crime scene. Clear the road already! People have to get home”. The cyclist had no intention of running, he just wanted to get off the road. The driver did himself no favours. He got a lot of people angry with him and several witnesses were so perturbed by his arrogance that they took the time to leave their contact info with the cyclist. The driver finally moved after the 911 dispatcher convinced him he could.

Watching this unfold I thought I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Almost every time a cyclist gets killed in Toronto we hear calls for a minimum three foot (1 metre) passing law. It would require any driver passing a cyclist to give the cyclist a minimum of three feet of space. A very sensible law. It has been talked about in Ontario off and on for years.

Right now if a driver passes you and does not hit you they have met the requirement under the HTA of safely passing you. While there is prohibition under the HTA for getting dangerously close to a cyclist or to a point where a cyclist must take corrective action, I have never heard of nor could find any cases where a charge went to trial. Essentially what exists now is a game of chicken between drivers and cyclists with drivers having the upper hand.

Imagine a three foot passing law being enacted here. Imagine the chaos. The roads where cyclists need it the most would come to a standstill, well a standstill for cars. Think of Bloor St between Bathurst and University or Kingston Road west of Vic Park. Some jurisdictions do not have to imagine such a law, they already have them. Surprisingly they exist almost exclusively in the United States. The very place we like to raise our noses to when it comes to cycling. They get progress, we get excuses.

Tennessee is one of the latest to enact such a law. Ten other states and Washington D.C. all have similar laws. I had to find out how well the law works in practice. Has it caused the chaos I envisioned? How well does it work? Could it work here? I asked the folks at Tennessee3Feet.org how well the law was working. Tennessee3Feet.org members Shannon K Hornsby, also Executive Director of Walk/Bike Nashville (Check out the related video at the bottom of that site.), and Pat Clements were kind enough to reply. First is Shannon’s reply to my questions followed up by some of Pat’s comments.

Q. Some of our urban roads have parking in the curb lane, often wide enough to allow cyclist to safely ride in the lane without getting doored. In this situation if a driver must pass a cyclist, who are riding 3 feet away from parked cars to avoid dooring, with three feet of clearance this requires them to enter the left lane. Something they are very loathe/lazy to do in urban traffic volumes.

A. Because the law was more recent than that of the double yellow line, it trumps. This particular law gives authority to drivers to cross the double yellow line with due cause, meaning a cyclist is to the right and the
oncoming lane of traffic is clear and the driver deems it safe to pass the cyclist with the 3 feet.

Q. Does your state require cyclists to ride a certain distance from the
curb/parked cars?

A. Our state does not require a specific distance, rather the law reads that “a cyclist must ride as far to the right as practicable” which stands as rule in any travel lane. We must also use our own discretion as cyclists to determine for our own safety what is practicable. As an organization we generally teach to ride an arm’s length from the curb and parked cars to avoid clipping your pedal or getting doored.

Q. Since the implementation of the 3 foot rule, has there been any pressure from the motoring public to decrease the clearance cyclists have to their right?

A. No, the motoring public (despite our public education campaign) is relatively unaware of the law. We did manage to get the Tennessee Department of Safety to display posters in the driver’s license bureau offices, but that only effectively reaches a small number of the driver population. We have a lot of work ahead.

Q. How well is this law observed in your urban areas? Is there active enforcement or just post collision?

A. It is not, to my knowledge, observed in our urban areas. I’ve not yet heard of a cyclist bringing a case against a driver for not offering the lawful 3 feet when passing. It is my assumption that it will follow as in other states and only be enforced when a collision occurs.

Pat follows up;

1.  The best thing about our 3-feet law is it again validates bicycles as valid users of the roadway.  You wouldn’t believe the number of non-cyclists that think it’s against the law for bicycles to be on the road.

2.  If a car’s mirror clips a bicyclist or they run a bicycle off into a ditch or some other hazard, it’s easier to prove the car is at fault (if it can also be proven that the bicycle was riding legally.)  It’s hard to get that license tag number if you’re laying in a ditch!

3.  I interpret our law as it’s the driver’s problem to pass a bicyclist safely.  If they’re riding 3 feet from parked cars, the car is still required to wait until it’s safe to pass in the left lane.  We also have a law in Tennessee that requires a slow moving vehicle to pull over if more than so many cars are backed up.  They both relate to each other.

4.  Yes, it’s hard to get the general public educated on the law.  If you get it passed, hopefully they can pass it with funds for a public awareness campaign through TV and radio ads, website, etc.  Ours is all “grass roots” effort - very small budget.

A week ago last Tuesday, as I was lying there in the middle of Danforth waiting for the real pain to set in, she came at me barking like a rabid dog.

I learned a long time ago that if the first hit or fall does not kill you the second one will. Now whenever I get a close call or fall off my bike I immediately look for somewhere safe to land. I look for a place where I can go and not get hit by another vehicle, I am looking as soon as I sense I am falling. I cannot really remember who taught me this but it is an important skill… if you can call it that.

She hit me in the rear. It is very disconcerting to be hit from behind. Been hit from behind before but just drivers bumping me because I am stopped at a red light or stop sign and they are impatient. This was a pretty good hit, it damaged the bike and earned me a trip in an ambulance. Something I hope to never experience again.

Danforth was wet. It had just stopped raining. This just added to the insult of having to lie on it. She just kept coming at me. I was more concerned about the pain that was coming than getting into a pissing match with her. Once the adrenalin wears off the pain sets in, I was waiting for it… trying to remain calm. She was just plain abusive for no reason. Even to those who stopped to help. Luckily a calm witness remained, without that witness the rabid dog would have probably started to take bites out of my leg. I have new found appreciation for cabbies, three stopped to offer help. All three were chased away, though one told the dog to shut it.

After I told her to back off she started to “clean up the scene”, moving her car before the police arrived. She wanted to move my bike too cause she said it was blocking traffic. I again had to listen to her barking about being an asshole for not wanting to move my bike. I was still lying down on the ground. Not knowing where I could go if she came after me. I felt the pain pretty good by the time the fire department arrived.

I was lying stunned not by the pain but by her behaviour. I was very lucky, even though my lower back swelled up pretty good it turned out to be not serious. The x-rays at the hospital would confirm this. The swelling went done pretty quickly and I am left with some very minor pain. Getting less painful everyday.

Anyways this is what you get when you signal. Had I not signaled my intention to change lanes it would have not have given her time to take aim at me and take a run at me. She gets full points for a direct hit.

Last Wednesday I started to ride again. I had to change lanes. There was a car behind me, a fair ways back. As I started to move over to the left it gunned its engine and sped around me to my left. Missing me by a few inches, then it had to come to an immediate stop because of traffic in front of it. Had he stayed in the first lane he would have had a few second delay. My fault again for warning him with a signal. Fucking cabbies!

The City has done its best to ignore cyclists on the issue of providing them a facility on Bloor St. Or more specifically on a part of Bloor that the City does not want cyclists. Now they will have to justify that position in court. The ‘Safe Cycling Coalition’ has found a very creative way to have its concerns heard.

Hey fellow cyclists,

Join the Safe Cycling Coalition in court on Thur. as we join forces with
unlikely bed-fellows — Bloor St. merchants — to take on the City
regarding the Bloor St. reconstruction project between Ave. Rd. and Church
St.

Shocking, really, that the word “bicycle” didn’t even make it into the $25
million dollar project report.

We’re intervening in this case against the city for their alleged
violation of the provincial Environmental Assessment Act.

Cyclists are encouraged to witness the hearing — let’s fill the room and
let them know cyclists are watching.

—

Thur. Oct. 9th, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Main Court House
130 Queen St. (NE corner of Queen and University)
The courtroom number has not been determined yet, but there will be a list
posted; the name of the case is ‘William Ashley Ltd v. City of Toronto’.

–

Read our original news release here:
http://www.bikingtoronto.com/2008/09/safe-cycling-coalition-intervening-in.html

Read Eye Magazine’s article this week:
http://www.eyeweekly.com/city/torontonotes/article/40623

–

Questions? Contact Angela <greenspi@web.ca>

Section 147 of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act (HTA) tells us that vehicles traveling at a slower rate than the normal rate of traffic should travel as “…close as practicable to the right…” This is usually interpreted in reference to cyclists, they are assumed slower therefore should keep to the right. There is a provision for us to travel a distance away from the curb for safety reasons.

In Toronto the vast majority of cyclists travel at a speed that is far greater than what cars are traveling at on some roads throughout the day and quite a few more during rush hour. When was the last time you saw rush hour car traffic pull to right as the HTA requires them to? Yes I am asking why these slower vehicles are not pulling to the right to allow the faster traffic, cyclists in this case, to pass them on the left. This is permissible for the cyclists to do, provided that certain requirements are met. The same ones drivers use to pass the slower moving cyclist.

S.148 HTA Passing vehicle going in same direction

(8) No person in charge of a vehicle shall pass or attempt to pass another vehicle going in the same direction on a highway unless the roadway,

(a) in front of and to the left of the vehicle to be passed is safely free from approaching traffic; and

(b) to the left of the vehicle passing or attempting to pass is safely free from overtaking traffic. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 148 (8).

There is a further requirement for vehicles to allow cyclists enough room to pass,

S. 148 Vehicles meeting bicycles

(4) Every person in charge of a vehicle on a highway meeting a person travelling on a bicycle shall allow the cyclist sufficient room on the roadway to pass. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 148 (4).

The obvious flaw in the HTA is that it assumes that cyclists are slower and or not normal. These sections are never applied to drivers, there would be wholesale chaos if it were. Yet if they were applied there may be a better position for cyclists to ride in while in typical urban traffic. That is to the left of cars in the curb lane. I am not yet prepared to argue that this position has less risks than riding to the right but it is a position that seems to be favoured by many couriers. I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on it.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Someone at last night’s CM said that there should be a place where people could go and discuss CM. Well here it is http://www.torontocranks.com/CriticalMass

It does require you to register but I assure you will get no spam from it. I hate it and would not wish it on anyone. If you are looking for a more encompassing discussion on cycling your best bet would be IbikeTO.ca

If you have any suggestions for the discussion area please do tell.

CM had the potential of being pretty good but it went to the dogs pretty quickly. Good crowd to start, probably around 300. The cheerleaders, though at half strength, were there to start us up. So too were a large contingent of cops who were hell bent on ruining CM.

Cheerleader Interview.

It seems that the police can never get it straight. Every month delivering a different message, hey we are your friends so let us help you through the streets, next ride, hey you are a bunch of criminals, try on these cuffs for size.

They struck early this time, handing out the first ticket within five minutes of the start. The first arrest, and only one I know of, occurred about 30 minutes in. Apparently the cyclist did not get off his bike fast enough for the cops so he was charged with obstruction. Though he was later released with a charge of going through a red light. During the arrest the mass seemed to break up into two parts. One staying with the arrested cyclist and following him to 52 division, the other wandering off during the arrest.

After a short protest at 52 division we headed out to Church St. Somehow the cops missed us leaving or they had their fill at that point. So they could not even have a consistent approach for an entire ride.

Anyways, that was a pretty glum aspect to it. Many people worked hard at bringing energy to the ride. Next month CM falls on Halloween. It should be a blast. There is a rumour that many people will be dressed in yellow jackets with the word ‘LICE’ on their backs. Not sure what that is all about. Though another rumour has a workshop going on to teach people how to say “Sir, get out of your car and WALK!” with authority.

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