Okay – When I am walking down the sidewalk, I DO NOT mind, stepping aside for half a second, to allow a person on a bicycle to pass me. I know Halifax has its panties all up in a bunch about people riding bikes. The pedestrians, and the drivers. Drivers, I understand a bit more. It certainly is frustrating when your told to share the road with a cyclist, who then gets to a cross walk, and decides to become a pedestrian. I understand. But what I DONT understand, is whats wrong with the assholes on the sidewalk that bitch about people riding bikes on the sidewalk!! What the hell? When I am walking down the sidewalk, i certainly do not mind moving out of the way for a split second of my life, to allow a cyclist to pass, instead of having them riding in the road, next to insanely angry drivers, like my boyfriend, who wants to run every single one of them over because they are so irritating, at no fault of their own i might add! since they are told they MUST ride in the street! The chance of me getting killed by someone riding a bicyle on the sidewalk, is MUCH less, then the chances of the person on the bicycle getting killed by riding in the streets.
Why cant we just share the sidewalks?!?! SERIOUSLY?!??!!?
—sick of cyclist bitches
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2009.
It’s a general “Halifax motorist” attitude that we have to contend with on a daily basis. Anger management should be encouraged in the city.
The issue about the cross walk is absolutely ridiculous and NOT based on any sound logic. Lights and roads were designed for cars. The distances between lights are designed for distances travelled in cars. If I want to get to point B, and I’m at point A, but the light is at point C – and there’s a cross walk at point B, I’m going to use the cross walk. Sure, I’ll get off my bike and walk.
Motorists getting angry at the fact that cyclists can be both pedestrians AND cyclists shows that these drivers should not be on the roads.
The real problem? Too many stupid people drive. I own a car, and I enjoy walking and biking. And considering the 3 options, this whole city CATERS to motorists. The fact that you’re complaining says more about your level of intelligence than it does about any real urban transportation issue.
OP, you really think biking on the sidewalk isn’t dangerous? Do you drive at all? When a car is pulling out of a driveway it typically has to cross the sidewalk to get out onto the street, no? Drivers expect pedestrians to be walking on that sidewalk slowly. Even in tricky areas where there is a fence or hedge obscuring the view of the sidewalk, cars have enough time to stop for pedestrians because pedestrians WALK… slowly. Drivers don’t expect and shouldn’t have to expect cyclists zipping out from behind those fences/hedges on the sidewalk.
My buddy broke his collar bone and fractured his arm because he was a dipshit biking on the sidewalk and hit a car pulling out of a driveway.
Bicycles belong on the street, not the sidewalk. Just imagine the hell that would break loose if all the idiot cyclists on SGR decided to use the sidewalk instead. Mayhem.
First of all, it’s a very small percentage of people who “zip” along the sidewalks on their bikes. Furthermore, I think you could find a 100 cyclists who have been injured following “the rules” for every 1 who has caused any problem on a sidewalk.
The reality – and most people don’t want to see this – is that Halifax is a city that caters to motorized vehicles and lazy people. Compared to most urban centers, everything is about cars here. And it is well reflected in the “driving culture” we see in the peninsula. Part of the problem is the urban strategy (lack of) and people wanting to live out in the suburbs, but also all the people that live within the city and still take their cars to work; all too often alone in the car.
If we really want to answer all the bitches about cars vs. pedestrians vs. cyclists, we need to at least agree on this problem. There are too many people driving in Halifax when other options are easily available.
It’s also quite troubling that a motorist should get upset or even angry at the fact that cyclist sometimes chose to walk their bikes through a cross walk because they should either be cyclists or pedestrians. This is the logic and mentality of a four year old.
Again, most of the problems stem from the fact that Halifax caters to motorists. Most urban centers don’t, and many are taking leaps forward in promoting mass transit and active transportation (walking, cycling, etc.).
We really are hicks you know. Behind by about 50 years.
Ped killed by bike on sidewalk:
http://www.thestar.com/article/678179
Note that the story is from the non-backward city of Toronto. It must be one of those enlightened cities that doesn’t cater to motorists. You can tell, because of the lack of smog and traffic jams there. They are so advanced. They don’t have any problems with cyclists there either…and I hear nobody lives in the suburbs and drives to downtown to work. Maybe if we try really really hard, we can be as advanced as Toronto and other enlightened cities.
No, I was thinking more like Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Berlin, etc. Even Paris seems to have more pedestrians and cyclists than motorists.
I never said Toronto was enlightened. I think most north American cities are designed poorly and cater to the suburban motorist, which has resulted in the “Death of Cities” for any Jacobs fans. It doesn’t help that we keep developing the outskirts while everything downtown crumbles into historic dust.
Halifax use to be an integrated city, and it’s now become a fine example of sprawl. There are too many people who depend on cars in the city. I’m not saying that this is only the case in Halifax. But until we can realize this, nothing will get solved.
Just wait until there’s flying cars just like the Jetsons. WE’RE DOOMED I TELLS YA!
I bet Techcafe wrote this bitch.
Yeah, I figure too. Buddy should lay off the organics for awhile.
Side WALKS – for walkers. Additionally, roads are driven on mainly by contraptions with WHEELS. Bikes have WHEELS. Therefore…
Seems like simple logic Dino… but there are those out there who just don’t get it.
I’d say the main reason not to share the sidewalk with cyclists is because it’s *against the law* for people to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk. Nothing against cyclists; just asking them to obey the law.
As far as I know it is illegal to drive your bike across a crosswalk, although I might be wrong, and even if I’m right, it’s one of those things that doesn’t get enforced, like jaywalking. So people who get off their bike and walk it across are obeying traffic laws as far as I know.
as an avid cyclist growing up its far safer to be on the sidewalks, the guy on the bike can zig zag to get around people cars and whatever else obstacle is in the sidewalk, and doesnt have to worry about some dickhead to come speeding up and nearly hitting you because they think you should get the fuck out of the way.
Again, driving tonight what do I see? Cyclists with no lights or reflectors, making left hand turns on red lights (lady you were lucky I saw you at the last minute and able to stop before making you into ground beef).
Its getting dark earlier now, put my lights back on the other day…
Sidewalk biking makes you succeptable to being run over from cars pulling out of driveways or cars turning right at intersections, motorists are watching for slow moving walkers, not zipping cyclists.
actually Fever, i am not the OB, i just happened to notice this bitch now.
but christ, obviously there is hate-on for cyclists in this shithole city, mostly by hostile motorists who work themselves into a conniption fit just because they have to sit/idle/pollute in bumper-bumper traffic, while the cyclist simply goes where s/he needs to, crosswalks or not.
Great, techcafe has ‘found’ this one, too.
Got forwarded this in an email this morning. Thought of you guys 🙂
“As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.”
Haha nevermind…nice one =)
And if everyone started cycling on the sidewalk, how safe would the side walk be for pedestrians OR cyclists?
nevermind wrote, “As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.”
seems quite irrational to me, but then again, aggressive/hostile drivers with an axe to grind, particularly against cyclists, usually aren’t known for behaving rationally on the roads, nor safely.
Holy shit tech. That was a joke email I was forwarded, as I stated.
Relax, remove your bicycle seat from the inside of your ass, and go read the LTWWL section for a while to calm yourself down before you have a heart attack.
You have way too much anger in you, and I would feel sorry for you if you weren’t attacking me in every thread.
i realize it was a joke, nevermind, but there is a grain of truth to every sarcasm – and that anti-cyclist sentiment you’re ‘joking’ about seems to run quite deep around these parts.
*cough* (not nearly as deep as your anti-driver sentiment) *cough*
Excuse me. I had some bullshit in my throat.
Sometimes the sidewalk, I think, should fall under that public safety (common sense) rule for cyclists. ie. the rotary between 7 to 9 am or 3 to 5 pm. Try it. Bring Valium and your religion of choice.
lol nevermind. Good call on the “Time Out” for techy too. That kid’s about to blow a gasket…or whatever the equivalent of blowing a gasket is on a bike…popping a cog?
“Sometimes the sidewalk… or bring valium and your religion of choice.”
salient point, Sparky. i don’t think most motorists realize that THEY are much more menacing on the roads (from a cyclist’s perspective) than we are to them – your car might get damaged, but we get maimed & killed. so, i don’t think many drivers have a true appreciation of how it is to be a cyclist in heavy traffic, where everyone else on the road is a CAR or TRUCK, and probably speeding toward us.
at certain times, it is just safer to take the crosswalk, or even the sidewalk, assuming it is clear of pedestrians (obviously), so riding on an empty sidewalk shouldn’t be an issue, least of all for motorists (since the cyclist is no longer in your way). and we can easily dismount if it becomes necessary, for safety reasons or whatever. pedestrians are at far less risk from cyclists, than both of us are from motorists. a cyclist is practically a ‘pedestrian on wheels’ while riding her bike in traffic anyway!
to apply the same rules, that are intended for motorized vehicles, to human-powered vehicles, is just crazy… at least in this city. i’ll look out for my own safety, i don’t need some rulebook telling me that it is somehow ‘safer’ to ride into oncoming traffic, rather than use a crosswalk to traverse some busy streets.
Maybe you should work on getting the Motor Vehicle Act changed.
FUCK!
Motorists, STOP WHINING! You have it the easiest of all the means of transportation.
Bunch of fucking babies.
I get it. You own the roads. And you’re all such idiots that it actually angers you when a cyclist walks his bike in a crosswalk. GOOD GRIEF! Listen to yourselves. You actually get angry over a cyclist walking his bike at a cross walk because in “principle” you’re either a cyclist or a pedestrian??? Seek help my friends!
Oh, I also drive. But I don’t get angry. If you do, then you shouldn’t drive.
Hicks
Tech, maybe you could think clearer if you stopped expending all your logic on quoting the shit out of people. Are you trying to make a point? Any point? It’s not really getting through to us, as you can see. I’m just quivering in fear at those walls of text.
I have no problem with cyclists using the crosswalks if they get off their bike and walk. Nothing worse then trying to make a right turn on red and a cyclist comes from nowhere and continues on through the crosswalk.
As for the rules of the road, the following is from the Nova Scotia Motor Vehicle Act:
85 (1) Every person riding a bicycle or animal upon a highway and every person driving any animal shall be subject to the provisions of this Act applicable to a driver of a vehicle, except those provisions which by their very nature can have no application.
Therefore, if you are at a red light or stop sign on a bike, you stop. It’s simple really.
And, techcafe, take a look at the following link, it may help you: http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/rmv/safe/Bicycl…
I adbide by it while I am on my bike. I am not saying that drivers in this city will respect you if you do this, but I do not get that much trouble from drivers. And I really respect those cyclists who do follow these rules when I am in my car. At least then I have an idea of their intentions instead of guessing if they are going to stop or blow through a stop sign.
Or, maybe we should take all cars, trucks, buses and whatever other motor driven vehicles are out there off the road. Maybe then techcafe would calm down a bit.
I doubt it…
seems i’ve struck a nerve with some of you (militant) motorists – good.
maybe we’ll come away from this discussion with a clearer understanding of each other’s perspective, motorist vs cyclist, and hopefully mutual rationality & reason, along with a good dose of empathy, will prevail.
When I’m running, I hate cyclists who drive too fast. When I’m biking, I hate pedestrians who sprawl themselves across the width of the sidewalk. When I’m driving, I hate pedestrians messing up my left turns and cyclists driving too slow. Too bad life’s not always perfectly calibrated to ensure our fragile sensibilites are never, ever offended.
I doubt it…
I doubt it.
Not likely, but I’ll keep riding my bike to work just the same. Been doing it since ’91 and haven’t been killed yet, despite never riding on the sidewalk.
Hey, Tech, this is the first time I think you’ve never mentioned anything about the “car culture” in Halifax. I really think you should really quit acting like a bloody victim.
not sure if i did, Fever, but HRM does cater to a massive ‘car culture’ nevertheless, and that is also relevant to this discussion. pardon me if i ‘forgot’ to mention it earlier, but thank you for bringing it up, Fever. ;~}
i’m not playing the victim btw, on the contrary, as a conscientious cyclist who is proactive about riding safely, i avoid becoming a victim, of a possible head-on collision with a speeding car.