Coxwell said:
This is the attitude that gets me.....where did I say I purposely drove close to cyclists? and as for cars driving within inches of my motorcycle, ahem, cars do....hence why I used to wear steel toed boots so a swift kick in the door panel makes em give me some space.....I also used to carry old spark plugs in my coat pocket....you'd be surprised how quickly cars back off when they are tail gating you when they see em bouncing off the road......
1) pedestrians. The sidewalks are totally separate from the road way. Sure, you get the idiots who cross mid block and stand in your lane thinking "hey, that 4000 lbs of steel can't hurt me...I'm SUPERman..." or the ones who don't pause while walking in front of a blind alley....or walk behind cars that are backing up......
2) bike lanes keep cyclists out of the car lanes. Ahem...nope...sorry, you're 100% wrong on that point. THe issue most have is the fact that cyclists DON'T stick to their lane...they cross 3 lanes of traffic, ride on the sidewalk, ride in the middle of a car lane, jump the curb, swerve around moving cars, swerve around cars stopped at intersections. The point I was making about a licence is that cyclists should have to abide by ALL the rules of the road, not make them up as they go along. 99% of cyclists I have seen break 10 or more traffic laws every minute......
You misunderstand me. I'm all for cyclists and other forms of transportation (other than a car). But the major point is that they should be given a proportionate amount of road space. ie: when they represent 1/3 of the vehicles on the road, 12 months of the year, they should get 1/3 the available space. 2 lanes on a 6 lane road is 1/3 but the issue is, there aren't that many cyclists on the road 12 months of the year. For the most part, the lanes are empty.....
Put it another way: the TTC subways have (I think) 10 cars at rush hour. THey reduce those cars to 5 or 6 on off peak hours and less on the sheppard line. If they applied the same logic as bike lanes, they'd ALWAYS have 15 cars, even when they're only moving 20 passengers per train. They won't do that of course because it is inefficient and a waste of time and energy. Hence, why bike lanes are useless at this point.
When I see 100 cyclists per hour out in -20 winter weather during a blizzard, then and only then could anyone convince me that bike lanes are necessary......
One more point about that cyclist I jumped in front of.....I used to travel all over the US on business. What I would do is when I was getting close to my destination, and didn't know where it was or where I was going, I would pull over behind a parked car, wait until ALL the traffic went by, and only when no one was behind me go forward slowly until I found the address. What I wouldn't do is hold up a lane of traffic, driving at 20 kph under the limit, because I didn't know where I was going......it's called being a conscientious driver and sharing the road. Not doing things to purposely piss off other drivers and breaking the law while doing so......
