Be careful of these so…

Be careful of these so called “studies.” It’s extremely easy to bias them and many conflicting conclusions can be drawn from them depending on the way it’s interpreted and looked at.

I think the best way is to get some inspiration from cities that are actually large and dense. I just came back from vacation in Tokyo, Japan for 3 weeks and I saw so many cyclists sharing the sidewalk with high pedestrian density. And zero collisions.

I think we have a problem here in Canada in which everyone is just thinking of themselves. The cyclists want to be able to ride at full speed, so much so that it’s common to see them weave between the roads and sidewalks to avoid a red light. Pedestrians want to take up all the space on sidewalks to walk comfortably. And for automobiles, their hands are tied. They can’t weave on the sidewalks.

We have lots of space in Canada compared to Japan. Build the bike lanes on the sidewalks. They should not take up traffic lanes. From simple physics, look at the injury risk of an automobile-cyclist collision vs cyclist-pedestrian collision. It doesn’t take a genius to understand car always wins, not to mention the cyclists are not insured. Truck also wins over cyclist.

If the cyclists want to be on the road, then they should be treated as a motor vehicle and must have insurance. They can cause car accidents as well.

On the flip side, cyclists should also be allowed on the sidewalks, and share the space with pedestrians, and SLOW DOWN. If they want to go faster, then make insurance mandatory.

And for those weaving between roads and sidewalks, especially to avoid traffic lights and stop signs, there needs to be enforcement and serious fines.

Easiest way to enforce? Make insurance mandatory and implement a special government issued helmet and license plate that all cyclists above the age of 18 must wear.