Common responses to drivers' complaints about cyclists

This is a list of responses to common criticisms of cyclists. I got tired of retyping them all the time, so I thought I'd write them once and post the link.

1. Cyclists are always breaking the law!

Examples:

• "a cyclist cut me off and went right into traffic. I was surprised that this woman did not get killed. On the other hand the number of people who blow through stop signs is amazing. People wake up the rules of the road are there for your protection and the protection of others!"

Many cyclists break the law. These are the cyclists that are noticed. The law-abiding cyclists just blend into the traffic or are not seen by drivers as they are on off-road paths.

Cyclists are not one entity, and most are law-abiding and safe cyclists. Many cyclists are critical of non-law-abiding ones; they endanger pedestrians, cyclists, and give us all a bad name.

However, many drivers also break the law. Common complaints from cyclists include:

- no signalling, particularly when taking right turns

- not giving enough room when passing

- opening a car door without looking

- not shoulder checking when making right-hand turns

- random honking, swearing and road rage

When cyclists ride unsafely, they are mostly endangering themselves. When drivers drive unsafely, they are endangering others.

It is also worth pointing out that cyclists often have a hard time to obey the law. The facilities are often so difficult for cyclists to use that breaking the law is the only practical way to handle this. The infrastructure does not encourage cyclists to be law-abiding.

2. Cyclists don't belong on the road

• "Ontario roads are not set up for bikes" - uncle hammy
  
• "Pedal bikes do not belong on the road with motor vehicles." - OutWithTheCons
  
• "I personally feel that pairing bicycles and automobilels together on roadways is ludicrous." - Kevin John
• "A 10lb bike has no chance against a 35,000lb+ vehicle. They shouldn't share the road with objects that weight more and move faster. They should share the sidewalk with pedestrians." - McGragery

This is often quoted by drivers who don't want to see cyclists in their path.

To be factual, bicycles are by law allowed to ride on most motorways. Go read the Ontario HTA.

The argument that cyclists shouldn't be sharing the road because the car weighs more is not reasonable. Should we also ban passenger vehicles from roads as they lose in an accident with trucks?

Often pointed out as an alternative, riding on the sidewalk is almost always illegal and often endangers pedestrians. City of Ottawa police often ticket cyclists for this.

3. Cyclists always lose in an accident with a car

Examples: 

• And finally ... bikers need to realise THEY ALWAYS LOSE in accidents with cars ... the driver goes to the shop to get scratches and dents fixed ... the biker goes to the hospital ... so even if you are in the right ... you are in the hospital - hanmerguy

The statement on its own appears to be true; I can find no examples where a cycling accident has significantly damaged a vehicle.

The implication, though, is that the laws don't matter and cyclists should just deal yield to drivers, regardless of their rights or if drivers are obeying the law.  And so drivers don't need to pay attention to the law.

This could be said about large trucks and passenger vehicles.  An 18-wheeler can easy crunch a Tercel, does that mean that trucks should just be able to change lanes without checking, or cut you off at intersections?  Ultimately, we all need to share the road.

Particularly when said during an altercation on the road, this is interpreted as a threat.  It translates to "it doesn't matter if you're in the right or the wrong, if you're in my way I can run you over, barely scratching the paint on my car."

4. Drivers require licenses and insurance, so should cyclists

Examples:

• "NO LICENCE NO RIDING ON ROADS !"
• "Until the city is prepared to require licensing of bicycles and their riders on the roadways, collect fees for use, and pass by-laws which will allow for notices of infraction to be issued (and fines collected), the discussion needs to be suspended."
• "I know this isn't a popular thing to talk about but I think we have to look at insurance for cyclists"
  
• "Licence the bikes and the riders....too easy!" - m mullaley
• "Simple solution Ontario should have a road tax for bikes and a licence program where everyone has to register when you turn 16 or 18 . Twenty five dollars for 5 years . With that licence you would have to pass a written test in all official Canadian languages ,that would be an additional $25 plus gst and pst. Then the government can hire more cycle police to ticket bad bike drivers. Bike drivers should have to pay insurance also at least $250 a year. Toronto can charge an additional $25 for the Toronto bike license that would be due every year. That would help everyone don't you all agree." martinasbuddies
  
  

This is sometimes used as a general comment by drivers who just hate cyclists and want to make cycling so impractical that it will just disappear.

Cycling is a safe activity when practiced properly and is a cheap, fun and healthy form of transportation. Adding more barriers to cycling discourages an activity that is good for our society.

It is also a slippery slope. Should pedestrians require licenses?

Also, it isn't practical. To sustain the infrastructure to enforce this would require making the license fee so high, cycling would not be financially sustainable. There would be more cars on the road.

Car insurance is used to protect the value of the property that is damaged in case of an accident for that car. However, it is difficult to imagine that cyclists could actually make that much damage with their vehicle. Far more damage to cars comes from collisions with trees and fences. Should those require insurance? Also, many cyclists do have insurance as part of their existing property insurance.

5. Cycling is dangerous! You're crazy to be biking!

• "I have no sympathy for anyone dumb enough to ride a bike on a busy highway or street, you are a fugitive from the law of averages" - KC3707, cbc.ca forum

If you consider just deaths, in Canada there are about 70 deaths per year. If you consider deaths of accidents involving automobiles, there are more than 2,000 (not including victims outside the vehicles). Driving is dangerous too, yet abandoning driving because it is driving is not reasonable either.

6. Why don't cyclists get tickets? They break the law all the time!

Actually, cyclists do get tickets. The City typically has an annual blitz, but will give out tickets at other times.

7. You cyclists should learn how to ride safely.

Yes, cyclists should. Unfortunately, there's almost no cycling education available in schools. The only training available is expensive and difficult to find.

8. Cyclists should stay on the right of the road

Examples:

• "I try to avoid bicyclists as much as possible, but they tend to not follow the law and keep as far to the right as possible (as a slow moving vehicle should) ... often a meter or more into the lane"

Yes, they should when it is safe to do this. However, the surface is often so inconsistent that this is less safe; a pothole or sunken sewer grate could launch the cyclist into moving traffic. They need to use their own judgement to decide if it is safe or not.

Also, cyclists need to leave a safe buffer of 2-3 ft next to parked cars. If any of the drivers open their doors, the cyclist will get the door prize, which often involves a broken collar bone or broken arm.

9. Cyclists are slowing me down!

Maybe they are. Take a deep breath, your car will accelerate enough to help you catch up those precious extra seconds. Consider the hours you'd waste in traffic jams if they were all in single-passenger vehicles.

10. Cyclists don't pay taxes, yet they want all these facilities

First, the infrastructure budgets for cycling are a very small fraction of total investments of roads intended for cars. The Ottawa Cycling Plan calls for an investment of $26M over five years. Compare that to the hundreds of millions of dollars used to expand just parts of the 417.

Cyclists are tax payers; we have jobs, pay municipal taxes, pay taxes on our bicycles, etc.

11. Cyclists should just get cars

• "Cyclists on the road are annoying and irritating. Plus they are putting themselves in danger.Get a job and get a car." - NedEXPat

Actually, many of us do have cars. We make a choice to bike.

It is in drivers' best interests for there to be fewer cars. This reduces congestion and slows down required road growth and lowers maintenance. The fewer bikes there are, the more cars there will be to compete with you.

Oh, and we have jobs too.

12. Cyclists shouldn't ride on the sidewalk, they are endangering pedestrians.

Examples:

• Or is it common, and even acceptable, to ride the wrong way on a one-way street? Boggles the mind that anyone would do that.

It is generally illegal to ride on sidewalks.

However, cyclists often feel unsafe riding on the road (in part because of aggressive drivers), and see this as less dangerous for them and others. There would be more cars on the road if there was no sidewalk riding.

There are also situations where the alternatives are too costly to make legal options feasible to the cyclist. An example is a cyclist travelling to an address on a one-way street on a long block. The approach for a driver and a law-abiding cyclist is to circle the block. On a 500m grid block, this could add a 1.5km detour. For a car going 60km/hr, that could add 2 mins. For a bicycle going 20km/hr, that would add 6 mins and several difficult and dangerous turns. Travelling on the sidewalk is often considered easier and safer to the cyclist.

13. Why do they always need to wear tight clothing?

Biking shorts or spandex reduces chaffing.

This comment often comes in the form of using derogatory terms for homosexuality. It is unlikely that the cycling population has a larger portion non-heterosexuals, and who cares?

14. Cyclists are always whining!

Cyclists are sometimes vocal, and fighting for the facilities they need to be safe travellers. Drivers have less need of this, they already get massive investments.

15. Cyclists should always wear helmets. It is the law.

There is no law in Ontario that requires adults 16 and over to wear helmets.

There are many reports that helmets do protect cyclists. However, helmets do not prevent injury in many types of accidents. Media reports are often quick to report on whether the cyclist was wearing a helmet or not, even if the helmet would never have helped them.

16. Cyclists should ride on the bike paths instead of the road

Generally, cyclists would prefer to ride on bicycle paths. However, there may be some reasons this is not practical.

First, bicycle paths in Ottawa frequently don't go anywhere, or they don't go where we need to travel. It might work well if you're on a leisurely ride, but destinations are typically at addresses only accessible by road. Bicycle paths are often longer routes.

Next, the surfaces of bicycle paths are not maintained as frequently as roads, and are often unrideable. Intersections that have curbs so high they require walking are actually more dangerous for cyclists than riding on the road.

Paths are almost always multi-purpose paths, and many pedestrians enjoy them too. They are often wandering, take the entire path, etc. This combined with the recommended speed limits often make cycling so slow that it isn't worth it.

17. Why do you give me the finger when I honk?

Drivers often honk at cyclists because they think it is helpful. There is no reason to honk at a cyclist, they can hear you anyway. Drivers usually can't hear other cars approaching because of the noise of their own vehicles and the sound insulation, but bicyclists hear a lot more. When drivers honk, it is pointless and does nothing but surprise and anger the cyclist.

Giving the finger provides a much more effective way to convey anger than a bicycle bell.

18. Other anti-cycling comments

These are hard to categorize, so I leave them here for your entertainment.

• "Ride in single file instead of intimidating motorists by riding 2 or 3 abreast. Use rear view mirrors, buy insurance and plates so you in fact have some right to be on the road. Better still, keep the hell off." Backwoods
• 
  
• "Roads are for vehicles that can keep moving at the posted speed limit - as a minimum. Bicycles are - or at least should be - allowed on roads where the maximum speed is 50 km/h or LESS. Now, if you spandex warriors want respect from drivers, learn the rules of the road. Stops, Yields and One-ways apply equally. If you really want to fight with my vehicle and it two tons, feel free. Just remember that I have insurance and I will NEVER compromise my safety or the safety of my passengers for a cyclist." - Mr. Ko Lee
• "I want to give cyclists a fact attitude equation road made for high speeds and tremendus weight + slow flimsy two wheel things = DISASTER re; group plans more rides to raise money for their next legislative goal: a law requiring drivers to give cyclists a minimum of one metre of clearance as they pass. cyclists are just stupid and don't understand much about roads , vehicles need a metre mirrors just to see the break every rule of the road riders." JohnnyKneeBone
• "It's cyclists that need to be controlled. Cars rule the world. These extreme-left granola crunching hippies are out of touch with Mainstream Canada." - tree pan 32
• "Plus this is Canada, the country is in the depths of winter for most of the year! Who the hell rides their bike when its -15 outside with blowing wind? Why waste all this money to make a bunch of dumb tree hugging hippes happy,
  get the heck of the road cyclists , bike lanes? Lets use that money to build wider better roads and streets, for people with nice suvs and Hummers. You don't need to ride a bike to get exercise, get a treadmill or gym membership." - NedEXPat
  

Problems in Capital Ward, 17

This is an ongoing list of problem areas in Ward 17 - Capital. I will up date this from time to time.

1. Lyon and Fifth

The southern part of Lyon in the Glebe is actually quite useful for cyclists since it is off a main road and parallel to Bank St. It is low traffic because it comes to a dead end a few metres away from Fifth Ave. There's a very small park that separates them with a sidewalk that cuts through it.

View Problem areas: Capital ward - 17 in a larger map

The Google map is slightly incorrect since the photo was taken before the park was built. Bing is slightly more up to date.

Right now, the park has a pedestrian path that cuts through it. It is plowed in the winter. Changing this to have a smooth bike path would invite cyclists to use this so as to avoid Bank St. (or violate the law by riding on the sidewalk).

This park could have a short bike path installed with smoothed curbs.

2. Going from Preston and Queen Elizabeth Driveway to the bike path

The NCC recreational path along the canal is quite nice. A common approach to it is at the southern tip of Preston. Unfortunately, there's no legal way to get from Preston to the bike path without dismounting, since there's a sidewalk that needs to be traversed.

View Problem areas: Capital ward - 17 in a larger map

This could be cleared up if the path were extended slightly to merge up with Preston.

3. Path that connects Rideau River recreational path to Lees Ave.

View Problem areas: Capital ward - 17 in a larger map

A cyclist biking along the NCC Rideau River path might want to cut across to Lees Ave. There's quite a few high rises, and it is a good way to connect up to the Pretoria bridge, etc. There's a relatively good bike path along the transitway bridge near Hurdman.

The problem is that that path just ends in the parking lot of a high rise. It should lead completely to Lees Ave., and have a smoothed curb to join the street.

Grate expectations

I've been cycling the entire length of Carling about 200 times per year for the last five years. Going west, I've gone over the same pair of grates every single time, and wondered why the city hadn't actually done anything about them. I figured they were welded in, needed to be that way for sewer feng shui or something else.

But I decided to email 311@ottawa.ca on June 1, 2009 to report it. Then I travelled for work, went on this bike vacation out west, travelled more for work and thought I'd check in again when I noticed they weren't changed. The city said they had, but they hadn't.

On July 28, I drew out a map and sent it to them.

View Crooked sewer grates in a larger map

And I mailed them back, they said they'd change them, and I went away for another business trip, came back, and they hadn't.

Then on Wednesday evening, I took photos. And by Thursday morning at 8:30 they were fixed.

And the moral of the story? Don't suffer for five years assuming that someone else will deal with the problem. If you see a problem, report it. And with a bit of perseverance they'll fix it quite quickly.

Ways to break the law

We all break the law, but there's different ways.

1. Carelessly
This is most of the problems. Drivers know the rules, but just aren't looking. A classic problem is for a driver to not do a shoulder check before taking a right and cutting off a cyclist.

2. Unknowingly
Many drivers just don't know the rules. A typical rule is the cyclist's right to occupy the entire lane when required to be safe. The behaviour that comes next is to try to drive aggressively because he genuinely believes the bike is taking a lane intended only for cars.

3. Intentionally
This is rare, but some cars will honk to scare cyclists, yell at them, throw things, etc. to make a point that they own the road.

All of these things make cycling less attractive to all but the most determined cyclists. Which is too bad... if there were more cyclists, there'd be fewer cars.

Cyclists, too, break laws in different ways.

1. Safely
If I ride the shoulder on a stretch of Carling, it provides greater separation between cars and bikes. And if a car needs to use the lane for an emergency as it is intended, it'd be more dangerous if I were on the road anyway. Cyclists also roll through stop signs in empty intersections. Biking on empty sidewalks. Things like that.

2. With the best of intentions
Sometimes, it seems like riding a sidewalk or biking through a crosswalk seems like a good idea. But it can confuse drivers and endanger pedestrians.

3. Recklessly
Not having lights for the dark or weaving in and out of traffic. But the ultimate has to be cyclists that whip through red lights, forcing cars to stop which endangers everyone.

Cyclists do not always understand these differences.

The most frustrating part of the cyclists' sins is that people lump them together. Not stopping completely at an empty stop sign is not the same as cutting off traffic. And it makes us all look bad.

It would be good if the police could ticket the intentional and reckless law breakers.

NCC pathways and commuting

Reality check: the NCC pathways are not always ideal for commuting by bicycle.

Here are the problems with them:

• the path to nowhere: there's often little or no connection between NCC paths and bike lanes provided by the city. I'll talk lots about that on this blog.

• the speed limit: very few cyclists who commute a significant distance want to deal with a 20km/hr speed limit. It is actually a recommended maximum.

• sharing the path: The nicest days for biking are usually the nicest days for wandering pedestrian families. Families taking up both lanes or behaving erratically is dangerous

• surface: road crossings often have high curbs and the surface of some paths is worse than the road next to it.

When the path is going somewhere you want to go and it is empty enough, the paths can really be very nice. But it isn't always the panacea that is sold.

Biking to the Kanata Research Park

Today, I'd like to write about biking routes to nothern Kanata when coming from points east.

Ottawa has a lot of high tech companies., and a lot of it is based in northern Kanata. The offices are spread across some 3 or 4 story buildings, and Alcatel-Lucent has some high rises. There's a luxury hotel, The Brookstreet, and a golf course.

So how do all these people get to work? You can tell in this satellite view that most of this land is allocated to parking lots. I do see quite a few cyclists too, but the biking infrastructure doesn't reflect that.

A lot of staff probably commute from nearby communities like parts of northern Kanata (Morgan's Grant, Kanata Lakes) and southern Kanata. I'll talk about those routes in other articles.

If you're coming from Bell's corners, Barrhaven, Centrepoint, Westboro, downtown or anywhere in else in the cities formerly known as Nepean and Ottawa, there are two transit points you end up biking through:

Bell's corners

This will get you to Barrhaven, Bell's Corners and other places in south western Ottawa

View How to get to Kanata's office park in a larger map

There's two routes that are possible:

• along Timm Road, then north on Eagleson and March. I don't know what Timm is like; the overpass over the 417 is narrow and dangerous. There is a bike lane along March (where five cyclists were strick last weekend).
• north on Moodie, west along the NCC Watts Creek bike path, get off at Burke and down the rest of Carling. Moodie is busy and the 417 overpass is rough. The bike path is really very nice, but being dumped onto the western part of Carling terribly paved. I'll talk more about that in another post.

Often, it makes sense to take a different route depending on the direction. Crossing major roads (like Carling) is very dangerous.

Andrew Hayden Park

This is a connection point for other parts of Ottawa like Westboro and downtown. It hooks up with some other bike routes.

It, too, has two major routes to get to Kanata north:

• straight west down Carling. This starts by being on the 60km/hr road to Moodie, then it is a nicely paved shoulder, although along a 80km/hr stretch. Then it gets bad; there's a CN train bridge (worth a few more articles) and again the nasty western stretch of Carling.
• along Corkstown (a residential, 40km/hr road), and along the Greenbelt bike path. Then north along Burke to Carling, over that nasty stretch mentioned above.

How to figure this out

The only way to know these things is to bike the route many times and do some detours on some trips to figure out what the alternatives are.

The City of Ottawa bike maps don't tell you enough. They don't point out the major obstacles (like the Carling train bridge), tell you where the paved shoulders.

The signage is really poor. Take the photo below... this is the turnoff needed to get from Carling through Burke to the Greenbelt bike path. This is an exceptionally useful connection, but it is uninviting (the barking dogs 100m in don't help either). You'd never know this was such a convenient connection!

What we can do

The thing we all want is to get bike paths that connect actually common source and destinations. This will be difficult.

Something else is to address the hazards along the way (pave some shoulders, actually draw bike lanes on them). I hope this is something we can get in city budgets.

Signage, I'd think, would be easiest to address. Add some signs that indicate common locations. You see some of these on some NCC paths, but never on City of Ottawa roads.

Information is something else. Figuring out the above took me several months, and most of it was by word of mouth.

I think we can do a lot better at at making major bicycle commuting routes more friendly.

Pothole on Carling west of Forest St.

This pothole is on the south side of Carling just west of Forest St. I didn't measure, but I'd estimate that it is 6" deep and would destroy most front wheels. There's some faded orange paint that encircles it and its smaller offspring. It isn't clear if that's a warning or for instruction of some future repair. It is hard to estimate its depth if it is full of rain water. I think has been there for more than two weeks but probably longer.

Carling is two somewhat narrow lanes at that point, and in rush hour they tend to both be full and there are quite a few large busses like the 85.

Why it is dangerous for cyclists: Your choices are a) swerve into traffic b) go through the pothole, break your wheel, fall over the handlebars and maybe into traffic c) balance your bike over the 2" of somewhat level pavement or d) get off your bike, walk on the sidewalk, then remount. if you're paying attention to the busy surrounding traffic, you may need to make this decision very quickly.

Why it is dangerous for drivers: A cyclist may behave erratically or swerve into your path. This can't be good for your suspension either, but presumably you're far enough away from the curb to not land in the crater.

I took the above photo yesterday evening. It is poor quality because of the rain and the quality of photos of my Blackberry.

I emailed 311@ottawa.ca with a description of its location. They got back to me almost right away with a tracking number.

Update on July 26, 2009: The city has filled the potholes, probably on the same day I reported it.

View reported pot holes in a larger map