Rant: Cyclists in Vancouver

[MillerGenuineDraft]

I agree with the majority of the posters. Cycling isn't a bad thing, I think it's great the city is encouraging people to do it, but for the love of all that is good, PLEASE start educating people about proper biking etiquette and laws and ENFORCE them. I can't even count how many times I've seen cyclists run reds or stop signs. And rarely do I see cyclists signal before making a turn.

Edit:

I think getting bikes licensed will be really hard. What about kids? Would they need licences too?

[canucks_dynasty]

I think most posters are fine with cyclists as long as they don't do something stupid or dangerous (ps...that goes for car drivers too).

I've seen a drunk driver smash his car in a pole.

I've seen a cyclist blow through a red light...near missing collision with right of way traffic.

Stupid people can use any mode of transportation...they'll still be stupid.

[McBackup]

The thing that irritates me about cyclists is that they want to be treated like a vehicle and a pedestrian at the same time, the benefits of both and the drawbacks of neither.

If you're going to ride your bike like a regular vehicle, fine by me, but you have to abide by the same rules as the rest of the vehicles.

Conversely, if you want to be treated like a pedestrian, then you have to abide by those rules too.

You don't get to do whatever you want because you're on a bike.

And then when they ride 4 cyclists wide and take up half the road and hold everyone up because they're moving at half the speed limit, thats pretty infuriating too. They need to be single file, in the bike lane.

Whats really interesting is that its never the normal people out for a ride who act like that. Its always the ones who are dressed like they're in the Tour de France and taking it super seriously that act like jerks.

[Weber's Playoff Beard]

I think the problem is that we have these "dedicated bike lanes" on the wrong roads. Ever been to a country where cycling is used by tons of people like India or China? Not many people wear helmets. Bicycles aren't licensed. The problem has nothing to do with helmets or licensing. The problem is there should be dedicated roads for bikes. Not these half lanes for cyclists that nobody uses.

Either make it illegal to ride on multilane streets or make dedicated streets strictly for bike lanes.

Having everything licensed doesn't fix any of the problems associated with bicycles and cars competing for space on the road...

All it does is discourage cycling.. which means more cars on the road.. which in the end.. means more complaints by drivers, which means build more multilane roads... rinse and repeat.

[ckamo]

Kids should not be allowed to bike on these roads with registered vehicle drivers (my reference is to big cities). That should just be common sense.

[Weber's Playoff Beard]

The thing that irritates me about cyclists is that they want to be treated like a vehicle and a pedestrian at the same time, the benefits of both and the drawbacks of neither.

If you're going to ride your bike like a regular vehicle, fine by me, but you have to abide by the same rules as the rest of the vehicles.

Conversely, if you want to be treated like a pedestrian, then you have to abide by those rules too.

You don't get to do whatever you want because you're on a bike.

And then when they ride 4 cyclists wide and take up half the road and hold everyone up because they're moving at half the speed limit, thats pretty infuriating too. They need to be single file, in the bike lane.

Whats really interesting is that its never the normal people out for a ride who act like that. Its always the ones who are dressed like they're in the Tour de France and taking it super seriously that act like jerks.

[McBackup]

Bike lanes I agree with. But you need real separated bike lanes.. one lane bike lanes are pretty useless.

I also agree that cyclists should abide by the same rules if there isn't a separated lane. Licensing doesn't fix stupid.

[MillerGenuineDraft]

OK, so biking in side streets won't require a licence? Or are you saying kids should only be allowed to bike in parks?

[Weber's Playoff Beard]

The problem with that is that there is a finite amount of space, and utilizing a large portion of that solely for bigger bike lanes is pretty wasteful.

[Weber's Playoff Beard]

Well, what do you think? Should our 14 year old nephew be allowed to bike in these bike lanes on Seymour St?

Let him ride his bike where he can safely do so. Allowing a 14 year old to ride his bike in these bike lanes is equivalently as dangerous as a 14 year ol driving a car.

[MillerGenuineDraft]

That's true. But for the cyclists who try to ride down busy streets like Broadway or Knight St... it'll be better if we could increase funding for bike paths directly adjacent to large streets so that cyclists stop cycling on these streets and move to the side streets.

Although the bike paths for most of Vancouver is not bad already, though it could always be better.

Downtown is a problem though.

[inane]

Roads are for all users.

[Common sense]

Roads are for all users.

[McBackup]

That's true. But for the cyclists who try to ride down busy streets like Broadway or Knight St... it'll be better if we could increase funding for bike paths directly adjacent to large streets so that cyclists stop cycling on these streets and move to the side streets.

Although the bike paths for most of Vancouver is not bad already, though it could always be better.

Downtown is a problem though.

[McBackup]

Roads are for all users.

[inane]

So why is there, and why should there be, a two-tiered fines system?

[inane]

So I can take this bad boy down Georgia street?

[McBackup]

Way to ignore my point.

[khay]

I agree. My solution is to put the cyclist road along the pedestrian roads and make them follow the same rule as the pedestrians. For example, they cross the street when the pedestrian light turns to "walk." This way they won't clog up the traffic and the cyclists are not in the danger of getting into fatal accidents. If the cyclists paths are placed alongside the pedestrian paths, then the worst that can happen in an accident is that a pedestrian gets hit by an idiot cyclist and breaks a leg! Breaking one's leg is far better outcome than losing one's life. Where pedestrians are not allowed, bikers should not be allowed either for their own safety. Most of the bridges in Vancouver already has pedestrian paths on the side so all the city needs to do is to separate the pedestrian path into two, one for the pedestrians, one for the bikers and do not allow the bikers on the lanes of the bridge or the streets.

[trek]

about the 14 year old nephew thing, since they aren't educated on the rules of the road yet they should be allowed to ride on the sidewalks and follow the same intersection rules as pedestrians.