Sunday, November 23, 2014

Kindly make room for cyclists

Ride on
Toronto, ON
November 2014
Bikes are vehicles, too. More Thematic here.
Slowly but surely, cities are starting to get serious about building proper bike lanes into street grids that for too long have belonged entirely to cars.

I drive both two- and four-wheeled vehicles, and while there's more than enough lousy behavior among both cyclists and motorists, it's clear that we could be doing more to encourage a more sustainable urban landscape that doesn't force cyclists to take their lives into their hands every time they want to ride to work.

Maybe if lanes like this were less of an exception, motorists wouldn't feel compelled to squeeze us to the side of the road as they rush toward the Tim Horton's drive-through lineup. Maybe they'd do themselves some good by leaving the car at home every once in a while and trying to ride in for a change. Might open their eyes a little.

I know: As if that'll happen in our lifetime. But one can still dream.

Your turn: How do you get to work?

1 comment:

Michèle et Jean-Claude said...

We see it in many cities, bike lanes and it seems to me that there is no regular pattern as to how they are constructed. In Ottawa there has been real progress in the last couple of years. However you still see, bike lanes that end, leaving you nowhere to go but in traffic or bike lanes at intersections and highway entrances that make no sense. Here in Ottawa there are some that you have no choice but to turn around if you don't want to find yourself on the highway that forbids bikes!