A Big Thank You To Mike Strobel For Putting Cyclist Wingnuts In Their Place

Bryant crash not cyclists vs. cars

By SUN MEDIA

It's time to turn the temperature way down on the tragic death of Darcy Allan Sheppard.

A 'living street' isn't dominated by cars

Sep 04, 2009 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume

The appalling death of a cyclist following an altercation with former attorney general Michael Bryant reminds us of the desperate need to humanize this city and learn to share its public spaces.

Of course that includes getting serious about bike lanes, an idea we have discussed endlessly in Toronto but about which we have done almost nothing.

Separate laws for bikes, cars

By MIKE STROBEL

"This should fill you with joy, you snivelling coward," writes D.F. Mills.

Attached to the email is an article about three injured cyclists.

Sheesh. Is that the two-wheeler world's idea of friendly debate?

Snivelling? OK. Coward? No way.

You need guts to criticize the bike lobby in this town.

Mills, among others, was upset by yesterday's column about the Michael Bryant incident.

The former attorney general's Saab and courier Allan Sheppard's bicycle collided in mysterious circumstances Monday night on Bloor St., near Avenue Rd.

This not only left Sheppard dead and Bryant ruined, but touched off a powder keg.

Let's face it. Motorists and cyclists generally hate each other.

For this, I argued, we can thank the social meddlers at City Hall. They have politicized bicycles and declared war on cars.

Look at other burghs, they say.

LIKE OUR FREEDOM

Beijing and Ho Chi Minh City come to mind. They swarm with peddlers, pedlars, pedicabs, mopeds, pedestrians and other impediments.

But they're Communists crammed into tiny spaces, so swarms are their natural way of being.

Not us. As much as the lefties at City Hall wish otherwise.

Nope, we like our freedom, our individuality.

And for our huge, silent majority, commuting by bicycle isn't practical.

So quit trying to force us.

And don't demonize us. We're just trying to get to work.

Where I come from, majority rules. That's us drivers.

Besides, cars are getting greener. (And what about the pollution from bicycle factories?)

But, hey, let's all get along. We drivers are not against bikes. They have their place. Just not with us.

Take Bogota, Colombia. Its web of bike paths, CicloRuta, will reach 500 km by next year -- most of it off-street.

Bogotavians, or whatever you call them, can pedal to any work district, park, school, showbiz venue, sports complex or bus depot. All without rubbing bumpers with any four-wheel brutes.

Bike use rose 38% from 2001 to 2004, as CicloRuta spread, but injuries dropped 9%.

We could do the same. Look at a map. Start with hydro right-of-ways. One runs through the heart of Scarborough all the way to the Don Valley.

Build a bike path there -- and on every available open space. Parks, waterfront, industrial lands, river valleys. A wholly separate cycle grid. Hundreds of klicks.

Downtown, limit bike lanes to streets that make sense, where they won't restrict traffic.

And separate them with safety barriers.

STAY OFF ARTERIES

Back lanes, mostly. Stay off Jarvis, Eastern and other arteries.

But even Yonge St. might work. New York has done it with Broadway.

Yonge is more shopping bazaar than traffic artery. One less car lane won't hurt.

But not in winter!!!

The lunacy of bike lanes on Canadian streets in mid-January astounds me.

So does the way cyclists can wobble about with nary a clue of safety or rules of the road.

They cut us off, clip our mirrors, menace pedestrians and travel without lights -- because they don't know any better.

Let's require training before letting these nincompoops pedal off. Maybe it's even time to licence cyclists.

At least insist they have proper brakes. Some, especially couriers, ride fixed-gear bikes. It's macho. No brakes. Yessiree. That's heartening.

SEPARATE LAWS

And, duh, should they be allowed to pedal drunk? Technically, it's not against the law.

Allan Sheppard was drinking before he collided with Michael Bryant.

I know if Bryant was tipsy, he would now be scum of the earth. He'd have nil defence.

So we need full, separate laws for cyclists. Bike-friendly cities like Amsterdam have them.

A few other things to show cyclists we love them: Bicycle garages. Bike lifts, for steep hills, like they have in Norway. Racks on the TTC. Public showers. (Ever sit beside a guy who cycled to work from Grimsby?)

Oh, and let's train cyclists in other uses for their middle finger.