I am writing as a cyclist…

I am writing as a cyclist who has been riding in .

I was almost hit on a narrow shoulder highway when a parcel van doing well over the posted 80 limit saw some sort of problem as he was passing me slammed on the brakes fishtailing and forcing me onto the soft shoulder to avoid being hit. Had it been a meter-wide shoulder the chances of a problem would have been far less. There are many places where there are either no alternates to an 80 km limit highway or the alternates are too far out of the way.

Cycling Death Review: A Review of All Accidental Cycling Deaths in Ontario from January 1st, 2006 to December 31st, 2010. Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario. 2012 advised as follow:

Cycling Death Review

This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Commmunity Safety and Corrections. Extracts from the Ontario Coroners report into 129 cycling deaths over the 5 year period 2006 through 2010 identify important reasons that paved shoulders are required. And in fact paved shoulders are a primary recommendation. The report in part states:

Collision Circumstances

o More than three-quarters of cycling fatalities involved a collision with a motor vehicle. o The most common point of impact with the vehicle was some combination of the bumper, hood and windshield; thus, occurring when the driver attempted to pass the cyclist.

Recommendation:

Prioritizing the development of paved shoulders on provincial highways.

Therefore I would strongly support a mandate for all provincial highways except limited access that do not allow bicycles having a 1 meter shoulder on both sides.

SEPARATED BIKE LANES

Here in Waterloo Region there have been several bike lanes put in over recent years.  These lanes are generally separated by a painted line but they are accompanied by island that keeps cars separated from oncoming traffic and pushes them into the cycle lane. This means the cars generally do not have to slow down but just make a slight slalom into the cycle lane.

To keep cyclists safe and get more people on the road I strongly advocate for separated bike lanes.

1 METER WHEN PASSING A CYCLIST

I very much appreciate the recently passed law requiring drivers give cyclists 1 meter of room when passing. Now there just needs to be a large scale program promoting and explaining the law and the consequences.

[Original Comment ID: 213100]