Login / RegisterGet off the sidewalk and into a bike lane!
Lance Read makes a fairly lame effort at self-justification for breaking the law [ Letters, September 13]. Apparently, it’s okay for him to weave through pedestrians “slowly and carefully”. When people walk on the sidewalk they are unpredictable: they stop and look in store windows, they turn around and go back, they decide to cross the street, they may even stop and talk to each other. All of these things can create an accident if there is mixed traffic on the sidewalk, and who is going to come out worst if it happens, Lance? You, the pedestrian, or your small grandchild?
You seem to think that because you consider certain sections of road dangerous, that compels you to ride on the sidewalk. How about avoiding those sections instead? You state that you are 60, so your reactions are not going to be as good as they once were. Apparently, you have had several near-accidents in bike lanes. Perhaps it is time to stop carrying your grandson around on a bike and take him for a walk on the beach instead.
I use the bike lanes and routes all the time, and find them to be as safe as cycling can get in a city. I am not a high-speed commuter, nor do I find that the bike lanes are full of them. Mostly they seem to be full of ordinary people out for a ride. The city has provided us with these routes at great cost. It only seems fair that we should be using them wherever possible.
> Peter Emery / Vancouver
As I crossed the side street and hiopped back onto the sidewalk I heard him say. "get off the sidewalk"!
Nowadays I do. So isn't it unlawfully to cycle on sidewalk anyway?
1- A lot of our city's 'bike lanes' aren't actually bike lanes. They're just regular streets with a bike sticker slapped on the right hand lane. Eg: Main Street. If there were more actual dedicated bike lanes, like the ones downtown, cyclists would of course use them, and this wouldn't be a problem.
2- When there isn't a dedicated bike lane, I almost always ride on the road, like the commenter above. However, sometimes if I happen to be on the left side of a road and the place I'm going to is also on the left side and only a block away, I'll ride on the sidewalk, cuz it's way easier than crossing traffic twice. I guess it would be safer to get off and walk my bike, but usually i just wanna get their faster, so i do a 'slow careful weave' through traffic just like Lance does. Just being honest here. One time when i was doing this some old lady screamed at me to GET OFF THE SIDEWALK!!! and i was like jeez, relax lady, i'm only going half a block and i'm riding slower than your wheelchair anyway.
Don't be so hard on her. If she had been hit by some idiot in the past, while she was in a wheelchair (or maybe that's even why she was in a wheelchair?), she will be very nervous every time she sees another cyclist breaking the law and coming at her, safe speed or not.
That could be your mother; cool your jets.