In my ambulance-chasing days as a cub reporter and photographer, I used to rush to many accident scenes, some involving cyclists who were crushed and/or killed by motor vehicles. These memories have stimulated a fear that I would call evidence-based. Others have called it irrational.
Which ever side of that coin you may fall, you will have to agree that taking my brand new bike for a spin in traffic would be a test of nerves.
I scheduled my first urban outing for Sunday morning, a time when traffic would be light. I rode into town with my friend who also has a new bike and fear of traffic. We followed the rules, took our time and made it back in one piece. It was a challenge, but it was fun.
But the exercise has not conquered my fear. If anything, it has reinforced it.
That’s because the city - or a least my city - is is not a cyclist’s friend. Drivers here seem to be under the impression that the road belongs to them. You feel their disdain and impatience, especially if you have the temerity to do something like make a left turn.
At one point today, we were at a stop sign waiting for a gap in traffic before making a left. The mini van behind us didn’t like the idea of waiting for two bicycles and kept edging closer and closer, as if to nudge us into traffic.
This was unnerving for the two Nervous Nellies on the bicycles.
When it was safe to make our left, we pulled out. Mini-van Maven zoomed out with us, passing us on the inside of our left turn, glancing over to give us a dirty look. She said something. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t kind.
So, lesson learned. She was the mini van. We were the bikes. We made her wait. The natural order had been violated.
I will continue to drive my bike but I’ll stick to low-volume times and back roads until there is a change of culture. I have cycled in places where drivers don’t feel this entitlement to the whole road and respect the cyclist as they would any other vehicle on the road.
But change comes slow in this neck of the woods and until such a time when the natural order of the road includes cyclists, I can only say this to cyclists: Be afraid; be very afraid.
Vancouver is the only city I’ve ever felt truly safe riding my bike. Perhaps because bicycles have their own lane. I really wanted to get a bike here, but decided against it. Too risky for this girl.
I think yet another side of the coin is the cyclists who feel they are forced take to the sidewalks and apply the same disregard/disdain towards pedestrians as the mini-van driver did to you. There have been many a time that I’ve walked off a bus or turned around a blind corner to almost find myself a tangled mess of metal spokes and limbs. This is definitely not a bike-friendly city (which is a shame because public transit stinks) but taking to the sidewalks isn’t the solution.
Of course, cyclists have their own lanes in Halifax - they just start in the middle of nowhere, and end in the middle of some other nowhere. You truly can’t get there form here using them…
Get out your old pad and paper from your reporter days (assuming you were in the days when reporters reported, as opposed to spell checking CP, AP Reuters etc releases) write down license and infraction and report it to the police. It may not help, but it will make you feel better.
In this day and age of computers and correlations, it is a pity we don’t have a computerised system to allow riders and drivers to flag other vehicles infractions - “Oh, I see Mr Jones Silver Accord has had 50 verified “failure to yield right of way” complaints - suspend the Vehicle registration for a month, and let him know it will be 6 months suspension for 10 more in the next 6 months…”
I don’t bicycle these days, mainly due to my rural location. It would take 3 hours to get to work.
I would, however, like to share some advice I got when I was a young gaffer that I think saved my ass a few times.
You are a vehicle on the road. You are subject to all of the same rules as any other vehicle. My advice…Ride in the lane as you would on a motorcycle. Do not ride the far outside of the lane, as cars will squeeze you off the road surface and will get dangerously close as they pass. Also a second vehicle may not even know you are there and may hit you as they pass.
Be courteous and pull off the road to let vehicles go by, but don’t let them think they have the option of going around you when there is on-coming traffic.
I would also suggest a full face helmet and some body armour.
I would agree with Dick. I saw a guy in Halifax today wearing a full-face moto-cross/BMX helmet, a spinal shield, knee and elbow pads and gloves. In motorcycling the sane riders use the acronym ATGATT (all the gear all the time) … because falling onto the road can be a bone crushing and skin-removing experience even a slow speeds. Just think how much it can hurt just tripping and falling onto the pavement!!
Hey, mayb we can get the NS government to buy us the gear … and teach us how to put it on and use it …
Yikes!!! I’d be scared, too!
Allison, never cycled in Vancouver but admired the bike paths from a bus
Alias Grace, welcome to GT. yep, that is the other side - cyclists are not pure either. But I was pure - I didn’t drive on sidewalks and knock over pedestrians
TagBagger, (ignoring the slight about my notepad-reporter age group), yes that is the thing, although it’s hard to take note when navigating on a bike in traffic. But you w3ould think with the GPS technologies they have these days that these infractions could be picked up and recorded.
Dick, I like the last suggestion and it doesn’t even have to be for bicycling. And thanks those are good tips. You have to be confident on the road
Tonardo, you mean full body armor every time I take the bike out? Eeks.
Tonardo II, yes they should buy us the bikes so we can train and learn to operate them safely - just like they buy the ATVs.
Falwless, you should be afraid.
“She said something. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t kind.”
She had no idea who she was messing with, did she?
I mean, you have the martial-arts offspring at your beckon call. Then if she knew she was tampering with “The Typist?” Well, I hate to see anyone deleted with just two keystrokes.
BTW, they don’t have bike paths in your neck of the woods? If not, head for the areas that do. The city of Santa Cruz, California has a dedicated bike right by the beach, that are protected by low rubber bumps that only the most blitzed drunk drivers can get over.
Sit tall, pedal hard and take charge. If they know you are afraid they WILL take advantage of you. They are the bullies of the roads.
I gained a lot of experience biking in Holland where, as you can well imagine, it is a dream to go biking. Mind you, there aren’t many hills there so they can make really good time, even when they’re loaded down with a couple of kids and groceries!