Take the Lane

Do you give three feet?

When I'm motoring, I notice that I get a lot of "tee-hee" responses from the occupants of vehicles that pass to my left.

It could be because of "i Give 3 Feet" bumper sticker that I've had on my car since 2010.

It was a marketing idea from the Florida Three Feet Please campaign, which used to sell sticks and jerseys, but found that there were more cyclists willing to wear jerseys, than there were motorists willing to mess up their cars with stickers.

I suppose there could be some indecorous references one might draw from such a bumper sticker, hence the tee-heeing (and perhaps the reason why this particular sticker design was dropped).

Nonetheless, the message is loud and proud: when driving, I do give three feet (or one metre) when passing cyclists or other vulernable road users. It does amaze me how many motorists feel it is necessary to stay as close to the curb as possible (with its potholes, sewer grates, puddles, flattened catalytic converters and other detritus) when they could just as easily be using the dotted line or centreline as their landmark, and confidently travel in their lane.

And, in fact, Ontario motorists should get used to landmarking on the centreline. The three-foot passing law is on the books in 18 U.S. states, with Arizona slated to join the pack this month. A one-metre (three-foot) passing law is part of the recommendations from last year's coroner's report on cycling deaths in Ontario. And there has already been an attempt to put a private member's bill on the subject before the legislature.

It's only a matter of time.

And while you're waiting, you might invest in a three-foot cycling jersey.

Here's one, from Share the Damn Road. They have other, more pointed jerseys, if you think this one isn't clear enough... (is it possible a motorist will think that the cyclist HAS three feet?) Ah well...

 

 

Crap, I hate when a deadline sneaks up on me

When I posted back in December on the Ontario call for submissions on its proposed cycling draft policy, I thought I had a lot of time to respond.

Then there was Christmas (busy, busy), got sick (oh great), went on holidays (yeah, Mexico), got sick again (some flu shot that was) and just looked up to realize that TODAY (Tuesday, Jan. 29) is the deadline for filing.

Yes, between drinking tea and chewing on Vitamin C tabs and popping zinc pills, I am scribbling out some thoughts on bike lanes, Idaho stops and helmet laws. You still have time to respond, too, if you feel so inclined. To all of you who have already responded, thank you, and I feel rightly ashamed.

Fossil fuel formula: more cyclists means more gas available for trucks

Here's what I haven't yet heard being said here at Velo-city Global 2012 in Vancouver: we're all going to have to look at bicycles more seriously because we're running out of gas.

Hans Michael Kloth, secretary general for the Paris-based International Transport Forum (of which Canada is a member), came the closest, in both addressing the audience of 800 urban planners, cycling advocates and manufacturers on Tuesday and in a media briefing later. (See also this intvu with Julian Ferguson of the European Cyclists Federation.)

The ITF is interested in the Big Picture of global commercial transport. Aviation access, maritime shipping, road and rail transport infrastructure: these are the big issues for the ITF. Frankly, whether a bike lane is pulled from a street or added to another, is the plankton of the ocean that this fish swims in.

So why was Kloth here at a cycling advocacy forum anyway?

It's sort of the elephant in the room: peak oil. At some point (and some say the point has passed), we are going to reach peak oil, and how is declining oil production going to square with rising economic expectations, especially from the developing world.

To the Velo-city Global audience, Kloth spoke of the global rebooting of bicycle share programs. (See this graphic from the ITF that shows the number of cities and number of bike-sharing bicycles in play in the world right now.) Kloth urged the audience to seek from their municipal leaders a creative vision for cycle planning.

In his later discussion, Kloth said international transport needs a flexible system, and spoke of a "transport cocktail" that would include cycling as a part of many "ingredients." He spoke also of the co-operation that will be required of all parties to make effective global transporttion choices.

The short version: do you want to have five cars on the road each carrying a single person to work, or do you want two trucks on the road carrying food and supplies that keep the homes and offices of those workers, working? Is those five people are going to have to leave their cars at home, how are they going to get to work. Mass transit, car-pooling, cycling.

Suddenly, all the plankton is really important to the planet's bigger fish.

Hey politicians! Pay attention to this editorial.

Thanks to The Record for an editorial on the Cycling Death Review that takes a balanced approach to the review by looking at the suite of suggestions from the Ontario coroner about how to make cycling safer in Ontario.

Now if we can just get our elected officials to become long-term planners rather than quick-fix seekers, perhaps there will be real change on our roads.

 

Dead cyclists are today's hot topic, but what about tomorrow?

You could tell right away that the Cycling Death Review, released today in Toronto, would be a trending topic with the mainstream media.

I showed up 30 minutes early for the press briefing at Xeriscape Park at the corner of Grosvenor Street and University Avenue in Toronto and there wasn't a parking space to be found. CTV, CBC, CityTV and the lot had filled up the street, and the hottest part of this little treed square bordered by the Whitney Block and the Mowat Block in Queen's Park.

Pretty good-sized crowd at the briefing, with camera crews, print media, bloggers, cycling advocates and others. And although the review was passed out prior to the briefing and, in theory, everyone could have just taken off to read it and post their thoughts, pretty much everyone stayed to listen to chief coroner Dr. Andrew McCallum; Toronto West regional supervising coroner Dr. Dan Cass; Share the Road Cycling Coalition's Eleanor McMahon; Patrick Brown, who stood for a number of road-user groups, including Cycle Toronto, 8-80 Cities, Hoof and Cycle and United Senior Citizens of Ontario; and Toronto Police Service Const. Hugh Smith, himself a Can-Bike examiner and co-founding member of the Toronto police cycle patrol.

Can't blame the Toronto media for turning out in droves: bicycling has been a hot-button issue for the Toronto media, esp. with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's battle against the so-called "war on cars" and all the buzz about adding and removing bike lanes.

McMahon addressed some of the vitriol, by speaking against the "overheated and irrational environment" that now exists, so over-heated that politicians are trying to figure out what they can do to please cyclists without alienating motorists.

McMahon said that cycling safety is "not a bicyclist versus motorist issue. It is us, it is we. We are all trying to navigate roads that are becoming increasingly crowded."

She might have pushed the envelop a bit too far when she said that "all Ontarians want this to change." Well, clearly, some Ontarians don't want it changed. They are happy with roads full of cars, and bicycles relegated to parks and multi-use trails that are out of sight and out of mind.

She moderated that later, but pointing out that "many" Ontarians want a better cycling environment. The "blame game is not an acceptable refuge," she told the gathering, inviting politicians to stop criticizing and make roads safer for all users.

Hers was the most political, and most passionate, of the addresses. But we'll need more than passion to make change in Ontario. We'll need commitment of cycling advocates and others to take this review and do something with it. Time to hold our politicians' feet to the fire.

Dutch firm enlarging its stake in cycling

The growth of the European cycling economy continues. This story from Reuters suggests that the venerable Raleigh brand is close to joining the stable of the ever-growing Accell Group, based out of Heenrenveen, The Netherlands.

Accell is already one of the largest bicycle makers in the world, producing 850,000 bikes under the marks of Staiger, Ghost, Mercier, Batavus, Redline, Torker and Bianchi (the Turkish Bianchi). Seems to me that Raleigh would have great name recognition in English-speaking cycling circles. The Dutch company make see the name as a selling point in the U,K., Canada and the U.S.

Acording to the Reuters piece, part of the reason for the acquisition would be to bolster Accell's move into electric bikes. The e-bike revoution is upon us.

NDP shows its bike-friendly side

Congrats to Ontario NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo for first presenting her private member's bill last year about a three-foot passing law for cyclists, and doing the legwork that made it a centrepiece of the New Democrats' environmental platform released Thursday.

Here's a report about it from the front page of The Record. The full platform, called Affordable Green Choices, is here.

While I applaud the fact that so many of the media reports focused on the one-metere/three-foot passing law proposal, I was a bit surprised that the whole platform seemed to have been condensed to that one point. It is almost an attempt to dismissively reduce the platform to the "nuttiest" thing.

It was really disappointing to read that Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne, who has been a showcased speaker at two Ontario Bike Summits, and has been cast as a friend of cycling, seemed to dismiss the idea out of hand. And Kitchener-Waterloo Conservative MPP Elizabeth Witmer also dismissed the three-foot passing law, saying it was out of touch with rural Ontario. Yikes! It's the rural roads with gravel shoulders and no respect by motorists for speed limits where cycle tourists need the most protection. Sounds like Witmer is out of touch with cycling.

It's a challenge and an opportunity to raise issues like this at election time.

 

Ontario's doctors join the cycling lobby

One of Ontario's most powerful lobbies, the 36,000-member Ontario Medical Association, has joined the bicycle infrastructure debate.

The OMA Policy Paper, Enhancing Cycling Safety in Ontario, outlines what many in the cycling advocacy community have been saying for years. The report is posted on the OMA website.

Among the points raised:

-- Cycling is one of the most beneficial exercises for people of all ages, and is a solution to chronic disease associated with obesity. Barriers to cycling needed to be removed so that more people will be encouraged to cycle. Cycling would increase if the cycling infrastructure was perceived as safer.

-- Since a significant majority of cyclist-motorist collisions happen at intersections, more attention has to be focused on intersection design and use. Planners need to rethink intersection design.

-- Cyclists need to get off the sidewalks and on to the roads, and there needs to be better infrastructure (bike lanes, segregated paths, signage) to make that happen.

-- Cycling infrastructure must be extended to rural areas and the burbs. It is not simply a downtown issue.

-- The use of cycling helmets should be encouraged for all ages.

-- Ontario's driver's manual needs to be revised with a cycling section, and there should be investments in such bicycle education programs as Can-Bike.

The OMA lays the responsibility to make changes at the feet of the provincial and municipal governments. The policy paper points out that Ontario has budgeted a measly $250,000 for Transportation Demand Management programs targetting bicycle infrastructure, while Quebec has allocated $88 million for bikeway development over the past 16 years and BikeBC has a budget of $30 million.

Not that the province carries all the blame: Specific cities, including Toronto, are cited for falling dramatically short of the goals of their own cycling master plans. Municipal governments make a big show of passing the motion to approve such plans, then don't back them up with any of the cash needed to implement them.

There are a few things this report doesn't do.

For one, it doesn't do a cost-benefit analysis. There are a lot of bottom-liners in government these days: they need to know how much will be saved. This report would have been more useful if it could say, for instance, that Ontario's health costs could be cut by $1,000 per resident for an investment of $10 per resident in cycling infrastructure spending.

For another, the OMA report shares the blame. Thanks to downloading, uploading and offloading, Ontario and its municipalities don't play well together. With a provincial election only months away, it is possible that some provincial candidates will take this report to heart. There's no such pressure on municipal leaders, who can use the possible change of government as an excuse to stall.

And it remains to be seen just how Ontario's 36,000 doctors will respond to this. Will your doctor read it? Will she or he do something about it? Certainly, you should. Send an email to the candidates in your riding and ask them where they stand.

 

Bicycle laws updated in Georgia

Some smart updates of the traffic laws in Georgia give a bit more respect to cyclists.

According to this report from Georgia Public Broadcasting, as of July 1, motorists will have to give three feet when passing cyclists on public roadways. As well, cyclists will be able to ride side-by-side, and they are not required to ride on paved shoulders where they exist.

Essentially, the changes acknowledge that cyclists are full-fledged road users.

School board adopts Active Transportation Charter

Good news from the Waterloo Region District School Board: it has adopted an Active Transportation Charter.

Roughly, this means the school board favours programs and policies that encourage transportation methods that lead to better student health, through direct application of active transportation and through the secondary benefits of reduced dependence on fossil-fuel transport (cleaner air, less traffic congestion).

Translate that as: the school board would like to see more kids walk, run, cycle, inline skate, skateboard and wheelchair to school, while seeing fewer adults driving them.

This has been in the works for a while now, thanks to Colleen Cooper, a public health nurse at the Waterloo Region public health, and Lauren Manske, a senior planner with the Waterloo Region District School Board, and is an offshoot of the Active and Safe Routes to School program.

This charter does not mean that every public school in Waterloo Region is going to close its parking lot. (In fact, it's ironic that I have noticed signs at my local school encouraging kids to engage in Walking Wednesdays and discouraging parents from dropping their kids off in the parking lot, while at the same time, that school's parking lot is going to be enlarged this summer.)

What it does mean is that school planners and administrators (aka principals) will score school board brownie points if they think about Active Transportation when they are considering school developments and activities. Put some thought into the placement of bike racks. Lobby to get the sidewalks leading to the school plowed before the roads are. Encourage kids to use their feet, rather than sit on their seat.

It's part of the inexorable shift to a culture independent of the automobile.