Login / RegisterCar drivers' illegal right turns blamed for vehicle-cyclist collisions at downtown end of Burrard Bridge
Southbound car drivers making illegal right turns at Burrard Street and Pacific Street were the major cause of last year’s spike in collisions with cyclists at the north end of the Burrard Bridge.
According to city transportation director Jerry Dobrovolny, ICBC has confirmed that 10 of the 13 reported vehicle-cyclist collisions by that intersection were due to these illegal turns where a separated bike lane leads onto the bridge.
“The other three accidents were on Pacific Boulevard away from the bridge,” Dobrovolny told the Straight on June 20 in a phone interview. “They weren’t actually related to the bike facility at all. We don’t wait until the rebuild, reconstruction to do anything if we are aware of an issue. It was an illegal right turn cars were making. We’ll add some additional signage and we’re looking at changing the geometry a little bit to make it more difficult for cars to make the right turn.”
Dobrovolny urged citizens to visit Talk Vancouver to express their opinions and give their thoughts on city infrastructure, which he said includes the three bridge crossings over False Creek.
The driver gave me a friendly wave.
"How it got on my bike, I'll never know!"
(Sorry, Groucho.)
Of course ICBC will blame the drivers, they can't collect off cyclists who typically couldn't afford cars to begin with.
From a cyclist perspective, the separated bike lane is on Hornby so wouldn't that be the better route anyway if heading into central downtown? not in all cases I get that, but still why not use it since that was the point of putting it in...
Only an idiot looks at a person doing one activity and assumes that's the only thing they do. If you see a person jogging do you assume they don't have the money for bus fare? Quite likely. I don't know how long you've lived in this city, but the approach for cyclists onto the Burrard bridge has been there since long before the separated bike lanes were put in by Vision. Indeed, they've been there since long before Vision was even a political party. And guess what? Right turns have always been illegal there. The accidents referred to happened with motor vehicles illegally turning right off of Burrard southbound before the bridge, therefore nothing do with Beach Avenue. Do you mean Pacific?
So your point seems to be that drivers shouldn't be required to take responsibility for
their injuring of other road users while making illegal right turns. Seems to fit well with the rest of your ill-thought-out post.
Tpowell: Right turns have not always been illegal there, not until Hornby bike lane http://goo.gl/maps/XyTZ5 Until the mid 80s, _left_turns were still legal in the off peak.