Take the Lane

Please, please, please use bicycle lights

There's a 30-year-old Hamilton cyclist in hospital fighting for his life, and I can't help but think he might not be there if he had been more visible.

For sure, it's not his fault, according to the story in the Hamilton Spectator. He was hit by a fast-moving motorist at about 2:15 a.m. Sunday. The driver did not stay at the scene, and called the police from his home. He's charged with impaired driving and failing to remain at the scene.

Nonetheless, based on the news report, the cyclist could have done more to protect himself. The story said that the cyclist, who was not identified in the story, was not wearing a helmet or reflective clothing, and had no lights on his bike. (His mountain bike was so new, it still had the price tag on it.) The major injuries are head injuries, and the police were blunt about his prognosis not being good.

Would the driver have noticed some bicycle lights or reflective clothing? Would a helmet have limited the head injuries?

Maybe not. If someone is drunk enough and driving fast enough, they might slam into a well-lit store-front window. It happens. But I have to think that night-riding cyclists can take some pretty obvious steps to protect themselves. Lights. Reflective clothing. And yeah, a helmet.

In the meantime, I'm hoping the Hamilton cyclist pulls through.

Another cycling sniper

After seeing the letter to the editor in yesterday's Record, you might wonder if the letters' page dude just likes to wave red flags under the noses of bulls.

Certainly, my ire was up as I read what I thought was yet another objection to winter cycling. Then I re-read it and realized that the author, Donna Cybulskie of Waterloo, was actually opposed to all cycling on public roads at any time.

Her argument is that since motorists are educated, tested and licensed to drive on roads, and cyclists are not, only motorists have the right to use those roads. (There might have been an implication that cyclists should be tested and licensed, but if it was ever there, it was lost in editing.) She went on to say that since she pays insurance to drive her vehicle on those roads (and cyclists do not), it will be her rates that rise as cyclists are involved in collisions. The best option, she wrote, is for cyclists to use the sidewalks.

I have previously written about sidewalk cycling. There's a can of worms. A lot of peds have unkind things to say about cyclists, and some cyclists, due to their bone-headed approach to sharing the sidewalks, deserve those unkind things. Police will advise cyclists privately to use sidewalks to stay off some deadly roads, but have to enforce local bylaws that prohibit bikes on sidewalks. Apparently, when Cybulskie was educated and tested on her road-use competency, no one thought to ask if she had read the part about shared use of the roads or who gets to use sidewalks. Maybe her licence should be withdrawn until she brushes up on that part.

I nearly howled when I read the part about "how many more cyclists will be injured or killed or cause an accident that other motorists will end up paying for..." (italics are mine). How many decades have we been talking about the dangers of "blame the victim" thinking? Cyclists don't generally cause collisions; they are usually the victims of collisions. Most cycling fatalities are bicyclists struck from behind. In many of the cases, they never knew what hit them. I'd like to have Cybulskie turn her thoughts around: how many more motorists are going to cause an accident that cyclists will end up paying for, often with their lives.

Finally, there was this last bit: "I just don't believe cyclists belong on the roads. I have enough to watch out for already."

On one hand, I totally agree with her. There is a lot to watch out for. Driver distraction is a big issue. That's why so many jurisdictions are regulating cellphone use by motorists, and why so many municipalities are considering limits on roadside portable billboards and other advertising that contribute to visual clutter. Next, we should work to ban GPS units and DVD players from vehicles so that drivers can concentrate on what's important, the road ahead.

On the other hand, I wonder what the heck is occupying her attention if she can't find enough time to watch the road ahead for cyclists, who are just among the many vulnerable road users (along with pedestrians, road crews, emergency responders, slow-moving vehicles, and others who may find themselves at the edge of the roadway).

The trend is toward protecting vulnerable road users from the metal monsters that are crowding our roads. Cybulskie seems to include herself among the monster-owners. It's such old-school thinking, it's sad.

If you want to respond to Cybulskie, you can write a letter to the editor here. Or you just join me and shake your head in wonder.

Just call him Papa Lance

Sorry, but it's one of those things about journalists and baby due dates: when someone announces that a child is due, we can't help but count back nine months from the due date and wonder.

In this case, it's Lance Armstrong, whose PR person has announced is going to be a papa (again -- he has three kids with his ex-wife, Kristin) next June, roughly midway between the Giro d'Italia (May 9-31) and the Tour de France (beginning July 4).

According to the AP item from Austin, Texas, the proud mama is girlfriend Anna Hansen. Vars. websites report that she is a staff member with First Descents, which provides outdoor adventure opportunities for young people with cancer. Armstrong's LiveStrong group (aka Lance Armstrong Foundation) is affiliated with First Descents.

Anyway, nine months prior puts "zero hour" in September sometime (right about the same time he announced his plans to return to competitive cycling). And wasn't Lance just here in Waterloo Region in June putting the big squeeze on Kate Hudson? He moves fast to go from dating Kate in June to planning a family with Anna in September.

Maybe it's part of his training regimen.

Have a laugh this Christmas

Charlie Kelly's website has a couple of pages of very unusual bicycle design: bikes where both pedals go down at the same time, bikes where the seat rises and falls as you pedal, bikes powered by the wind.

There are two pages of weird bikes, and they are worth looking at just to wonder why anyone ever thought they were a good idea.

Happy Christmas.

Alleged Toronto bicycle thief Igor Kenk back in the news

The man accused by many as being Toronto's worst bicycle thief is the subject of a Toronto Star article today after he is said to have violated conditions of his bail and was tossed back in the slammer.

It's a pretty interesting article, and includes the tidbit that although he is connected to 14 garages that were filled to the rafters with bicycles, police say the bike theft rate has not gone down since his arrest.

Amazing video demonstrates why fixee riders love their bikes

This is a holy-moley video, filmed in Germany six or seven years ago, showing a female rider putting a fixee through some incredible manoeuvres.

If you have five minutes or so of time to kill, sit back and enjoy this.

Officer in YouTube cyclist-smackdown says he's not guilty

Those of you who were following the case of the Christopher Long, the New York cyclist who was knocked to the ground during a Critical Mass ride in June, will be interested to know that the police officer involved pleaded not guilty today in court.

Patrick Pogan is accused of falsifying business records and filing a false instrument. The officer had charged Long with obstructing traffic and deliberating targeting an officer. The charges against the cyclist were later stayed after the incident, which had been captured on citizen video, was posted to YouTube (so far, it has been seen some 1.6 million times). While the video does not show everything that happened, it does show a police officer walking over to a cyclist and body-slamming him to the ground. 

One wonders where Pogan is going to find an unbiased jury after so many people have seen the video. Perhaps he is going to argue it's a case of mistaken identity. His lawyer is quoted in an Associated Press story from New York as saying that the 23-year-old officer's actions were justified.

If Pogan is convicted, he faces up to four years in prison. 

Personally, I'd be more creative. Let's sentence such individuals to spending the rest of their working lives riding a bicycle to and from work. Perhaps it would give them a better understanding of the two-wheeled way.

Time to ask for cycle-dollars

When the federal budget rolls out in January, you can expect that there will be billions of dollars cut loose for infrastructure funding. The question is: how much of it will go to bicycle transportation?

The answer, says John Sigurjonsson, of member services for Cycle Chatham-Kent, is: as much as you ask for.

The trick is getting someone to ask for it. He has been e-messaging cycling advocates, urging them to expedite any active transportation projects that are in the works so that they will be ready when stimulus package starts stimulating. These billions aren't intended to be spent in 2010. They will be put into play ASAP, and the projects that are ready will be more likely to be chosen.

And he has advice for the average citizen as well. Your job is to lobby your municipal staff members, your individual councillors and your council as a whole to take action. If there are just a few steps left to put a plan into play -- environmental assessment, community consultation, pre-engineering work -- push your planners and your council members to get those final steps done.

And while you're doing that, lobby your elected members of the federal and provincial governments to think about active transportation.

You know and I know that there is a huge ambivalence right now about the auto industry bailout package. There are many Canadians who feel it's the wrong thing to do. So let our MPs and MPPs feel better about this by offering a parallel and alternate vision for a transit-enabled, rideable and walkable future. Let this be the sugar coating that makes the auto bailout easier to swallow. "Sure, we have to help the guys who have been filling parking lots with SUVs, but we are also adding infrastructure for a greener future."

Politicians like an easy out. Give it to them.

Urban transportation writer loses sight of Road Ahead

I'm reluctant to criticize the comments of a co-worker, but it is hard to let pass Jeff Outhit's objections to winter cyclists in today's Road Ahead column in The Record's local news section.

I empathize with the fear he felt in his own brush with a winter cyclist. In a car-cyclist collision, both sides lose.

But there's clearly room for some consciousness-raising here. Outhit writes how he was driving "on an icy road in miserable weather" when he saw "this guy in traffic, wobbling on two wheels, struggling to stay upright," and said to himself, "Please don't wipe out." The cyclist did fall on the icy road and a tragedy was avoided, I'm assuming, because Outhit was driving so slowly in the poor conditions.

First, the cyclist wasn't "in traffic," he IS traffic. It is depressing to hear such a narrow interpretation of a road user coming from a transportation advocate.

Second, when the roads are icy and the weather is miserable, the message we get from police is that road users -- motorists, cyclists and peds -- should stay off the road unless it is absolutely necessary. Was Outhit's trip any more urgent than the cyclist's? As I posted recently, I've seen a lot of riders lately, going to work, school or on errands. Does the possession of a car trump all other road users?

And, I wonder how many road users trust in "hope" rather then take concrete action when they see a dog at the side of the road, a ball bouncing across the road or another motorist, looking away from them before entering the roadway. How many of them silently say to themselves: "I hope that dog doesn't move," or "I hope there's no kid chasing that ball" or "I hope that driver looks over at me before he pulls out."

It is in the hands of every road user -- this goes for cyclists, horse-and-buggy-operators and peds, as well as motorists -- to do more than hope. They need not be in a position where they have to say after the fact that there was nothing they could have done, because, of course, there is always something they could have done. Slow down. Stop, even (what's it going to cost you? 10 seconds?). Give a wide berth.

Drivers who depend on hope alone are gambling with lives. Every road user has a responsibility, not just for themselves, but for every other road user, to get where they are going safely.

More cyclists than peds -- what does that mean?

I had one of those cold-water-in-your-face moments y'day when I realized that all this wintry, snowy week, I have seen more cyclists than peds along vast stretches of my trip to work.

In the heart of suburbia, and the fringes of "urbia" (there must be an urbia if there's a suburbia), I have seen more people on bicycles than on foot. The exception outside of downtown-land are the sidewalks near any high school. But even in downtownopolis, there are bikes locked up near businesses, bikes being ridden on sidewalks, bikes being ridden on the roads. (Do the Waterloo Regional Police know this? Someone should tell them...)

So, why? Gas prices? Belt-tightening due to joblessness or the threat of joblessness? Most of the riders I have been watching appear to be out there for utilitarian reasons (lunch pails, backpacks, shopping bags), so I assume they are examples of multimodal transportation.

Do we ever know when we are at the tipping point of changed behaviour? Will we, at some future point, look back on a particular winter or summer and say, "This is when it changed." Or maybe there isn't a tipping point. Maybe it's been changing all along.