As a member of the City of…

As a member of the City of Oshawa's Active Transportation Advisory Committee, i submit the following suggestions for your Policy Proposal and Action Plan for #Cycle ON

1) Re:"Collaborate on guidelines for e-bikes use on cycling facilities"...the publc in our city is expressing considerable concern over e-bike use on our city's multi-use pathways.  Our city of Oshawa is reviewing its e-bike use bylaws and has requested the input of our Advisory Committee. We suggest to the MOT, that it recognize that e-bike technology and capability is changing very rapidly. True e-bikes where batteries provide motive assistance but which can be also efficiently pedaled and have a weight more sononymous with a bicycle have note been the object of public concern.  The heavy, small wheeled scooter-style machines which have pedals but which cannot be suitable pedaled any distance are the objects of concern.  People are expressing that they should be confined to the road and are a very serious safety concern on the multi-use paths. They belong on the roadways.  Develop clear definitions and categories of e-bikes so that municipalities can effectively identify those which do not belong on the pathways and which enable easier enforcement of bylaws.

2) Re:" Improve content for motorist-cyclist interactions in Beginner Driver Education" Instructing motorists to leave a 1 meter distance between your vehicl anda cyclist is NOT an adequate strategy in teaching a new motorist to deal with a cyclist. What an instructional manual should do is to provide the beginning driver with a series of STEPS to follow when overtaking a cyclist. Drivers need a strategy, not a measurement.Google such strategy/ steps and you will find an abundance of such on US sites, particularyly legal firms that deal with litigation in motorist/cyclist collisions. People, particulaty young people need to approach and overtake a cyclist with strategy in mind.  Its a much more effective learning tool than simply instructing someone to note a measurement!

2) Treat cycling and its related infrastructure as a community BUILDING tool. The provincial government has mandated moves to create more compact urban development which reaps the rewards of intensification.Cycling is an essential component of intensification. It can connect people to their work, their services, and to each other. it should not be treated as an add on but, instead, as an integral component to urban design.

Sincerely

Keith Jones,  Oshawa Active Transportation Advisory Committee

[Original Comment ID: 212916]