Comment 51600

By Cyc (anonymous) | Posted November 16, 2010 at 01:02:32

I don't follow the race, so I don't have any clue who Ford is. His position on this sounds reasonable though.

When I see a bicycle on the road:
1) they force every car to switch lanes and pass them. This does wonders for gridlock - effectively reducing the number of usable lanes by one.
and
2) I look over to see the sidewalk, and in anywhere but downtown Toronto, the sidewalks are generally empty.
3) The bicyclist generally ignores the rules of the road they are so eager to be on. If I'm standing at a red light, I don't appreciate them jumping the queue on the right forcing me to pass them shortly afterwards *again*. And don't get me started on how many times I've seen them run red lights.

Bicycle lanes are simply used too infrequently to take space away from an extra lane for traffic. If there's room for both, great, by all means - bike lanes are great. If not, the space should go to the traffic that needs it most - cars. The eutopian metropolis of the future where everyone is forced to pedal and bicycle theft levels are through the roof, may sound fun to some of you, but to other people it sounds like the pits.

As for it being safer or not - on the road, the bicyclist is at risk all the time (sideswiped by mirrors, etc). If they are on the sidewalk, they're generally safe until they reach an intersection (at which point, admittedly, the danger is higher then when on the road at the same intersection). Is it really so hard to dismount and walk there?

There - I said what I wanted. Now neg rep away - opinions like mine will then just magically disappear.

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