Hello! Bikes in traffic should be treated like traffic. You wouldn’t push a car out of the lane by sideswiping it, so why would you do that to a biker who is in front of you in traffic?
Luckily I kept my balance and pulled out of the street to calm myself down. Being hit by a car is scary!
Smarten up Halifax drivers, there are bikes around you and they have a right to be on the road too. It’s not our fault – we get stopped by the cops when we bike on the sidewalk and this city has next to no bike lanes. Don’t be jerks about it. —Thursday afternoon biker on Agricola
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2010.
Put flashing lights on the back of your bike, problem solved.
Then get off your fixed gear bike and keep up with the speed of traffic, if you insist on driving in the lane. I’m not condoning what the driver did, but if you had either A) driven next to the curb, or B) kept up with traffic, you probably wouldn’t have gotten hit.
You never see the people that actually drive bikes that go a decent speed getting hit. I damn near hit a girl on a fixed gear bike today, because she was swerving in and out of the lane lackadaisically. It’s the fucking city, not some country road.
Drivers in Edmonton treat cyclists way worse in their big pick-up trucks, country music (or worse… Nickelback) blaring, greasy mullets blowing the wind. You should consider yourself lucky!
ECHO64 – flashing lights in broad daylight? we bikers are not usually dressed in street-traffic-camouflage. we are visible. perhaps we all need big flashing neon signs over our heads?
Dr. Fever – there are many many of us not riding fixed gear bikes. and do you mean to say that YOU actually SEE bikers getting hit? like this is a regular event in your daily life? WOW. further, there are a number of situations when hugging the curve is not possible – for example, when there are cars parked on the side of the road, when making a left turn, etc. and “keeping up” with traffic is a fuzzy notion: sure, it makes sense when there is a steady flow of traffic; but on a street with minor flow, biking at a good speed does not keep some drivers from inadvertently driving faster (i.e., speeding) and/or passing bikers inattentively.
i support you Thursday-afternoon-biker-on-Agricola!
yea you pooheads 🙂
here’s a real brilliant idea. if you don’t want to get nailed, or your bike, maybe you should get one that looks like a car then.bikes are tools for fools. think you stand a chance in hell, playing tag with a car or truck, thunk again. you will lose every fucking time, and the more you make an ass of yourself, the more driver’s you are going to really piss off, making your ride, less fun everytime you take said bike out.
In the military tank drivers refer to infantrymen as “Crunchies”, for obvious reasons. Same with cars/cyclists.
“Well I see you’ve got your jogging shoes on neighbor; your’e going to need them. Release the hounds, Smithers”
crunchies, interesting…i have been crunched several times. lovin the new avatar ivan, i heart boobs
I think the only flick I’ve watched more times than Red October is the 1956 version of A Christmas Carol. And I’m told I do a pretty good impression of SNL’s Celebrity Jeopardy Connery, but it doesn’t translate well to the printed word
“I Shpent the besht yearsh of my love trying to invent an analbumcover. Having failed is my greatest regret”.
Of course you recorded the license plate, right? Cyclists have no right to complain. Bikes should be required to have plates also. We all see you driving across crosswalks and on sidewalks. Cars can’t do that, so why should you. Survival of the biggest on the roads!
i want more— No, I’m not saying that I’ve seen people getting hit on a regular basis. Also, as I said in my original response, I don’t condone what the driver did.
But I’ve often seen people on fixed gear bikes (usually girls who think that they’re being cute) with their heads in the clouds, and causing their own problems. Speed is an issue, especially in the city, because more often than not, they’re weaving in and out of the lane slowly, and if they had just kept up by being a conscientious, good, bike rider, you wouldn’t see half the complaints that you do. But, you don’t, because cyclists act like they’re entitled to the road, instead of realizing they need to share it.
Dr. Fever – It is drivers that seem to forget that they have to share the road with us. How often to you look in your right mirror to see if there is a cyclist next to you before making a right turn?? If a driver actually uses their signal, then I know to watch out. That is just one example of drivers not thinking about us cyclists, who ARE sharing the road. At least the majority of us. Yes, there are bad cyclists but there are bad drivers as well.
Unfortunately a lot of bikers in this city (i am one of them but rarely like this) think they can sail down the street in the middle of a lane and let traffic behind them deal with it.
To be good cyclists and respectful to everyone, cyclists should pull over to the side and continue their cycling there, as to let traffic continue its normal flow rate.
Cyclists should always keep an eye on whats behind them, and do this when appropriate. The only time its reasonable to be in traffic and impede those behind you is when there is traffic ahead of you impeding your speed. Or during critical mass.
“swiper, no swiping!”
hahaha, nice.
Someone somewhere in the City is fuming about the arsehole cyclist who ran into his/her car on Thursday – there are always 2 sides to every story.
BWN— My head’s on a swivel when I’m driving. 10 years and a clean driving record is what I’ve earned for that. Now I am aware that I’m not every driver, but realistically, like in my example, some cyclists in this city just don’t get it, just like some drivers.
My point is that the cyclists need to be more cautious, simply because they’re driving in traffic. Nobody really wants to hit anyone (save for a couple of nut-jobs) and I’m sure most cyclist-car accidents could be avoided by the cyclist being more aware.
Also, you never see every day cyclists riding fixed gear bikes, with their heads in the clouds. It’s always some flighty NSCAD reject with a fixed gear bike thinking they’re fashionable, and when they get hit, they play the victim.
swivel head…YES. your neck can move. to 2 wheel and 4 wheel drivers…shoulder check every single time
Situational awareness, never fly straight and level for longer than 30 seconds, beware the Hun in the sun. These things work for fighter pilots; no reason at all that they can’t work for cyclists. That’s why fliers in both world wars wore silk scarves. It wasn’t an affectation; it kept their swivelly necks from chafing. OK, they did look pretty cool as well.
mmm…silk scarves. sounds good
I’ve read more than one book by Navy SEALS who found that wearing pantyhose under their combat uniforms worked real well at keeping leeches away from the wedding tackle. And me Dad did jungle exercises in Jamaica in the early 70s and says you never entered any body of water no matter how clear or fast running without a condom on and your boxers hiked up as tight as they could go
i have silk long johns for riding in the winter…feels dead sexy like a second layer of skin. thanks for the advice on leech protection, that’s why i like ocean swimming
The N.S. Driver’s Handbook outlines the rules that govern the driver/cyclist relationship (http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/rmv/handbook/DH…). It states that cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as drivers and warns against tricks like weaving in between cars. The Handbook also advises cyclists to “ride on the right side of the road with the flow of traffic. Use as much of the lane as required to be safe from roadside hazards.” When I used to bike, I would position myself close to the center of the lane to prevent motorists from squeezing me against the curb and risking an accident. I know that strategy might piss off some rushed, single-minded drivers but it does tend to make a cyclist more visible. If more cyclists consistently followed the rules of the road, I think more drivers would learn to respectfully share the road (provided drivers _know_ the rules of the road). That said, driving recklessly around cyclists, even the clueless ones, is just courting trouble. I keep cyclists in view when I drive and try to keep half a lane between us should I need to pass them.
excellent bd. i also believe it states that you can take a metre of the road from the curb or a parked car, and don’t weave in and out between the parked cars…arrive alive
sweet now i can tell people i wear them cause of leeches; what about my camisole what will that protect me from 🙂
sweet now i can tell people i wear cause of leeches; hmmm what do camisoles protect you from 🙂
I looked for a reference to the specific amount of space a cyclist is permitted but I didn’t come across it. I seem to remember my driving instructor telling me that they were entitled to half a lane but don’t quote me on that one.
I wonder how many people saying bikes should have license plates actually bother reporting the license plate of a car they see breaking law such and such.
Martym. Cockatiels
Carry a few rocks or something throwable with you while biking. But don’t be a dick about it unless you NEED to.
PS: somewhat-related but apparently there are businesses on Herring Cove Rd petitioning AGAINST bike lanes there.
YES! As a matter of fact one drop of the deadly cockerspaniatiel venom and I’m a dead man (It’s right on my medic alert bracelet) 🙂
Bike are not and never have been “traffic” Bikes should be on the sidewalk where they belong, not holding up real traffic.
I am a cyclist in Halifax and I do agree there should be some form of provincial registration if we are to be considered road vehicles. However having been hit by a car, while stopped at a red light, and having the driver take off driving without a second glance, I can assure you I will continue to drive on the sidewalk on the areas I know to be dangerous to cyclists. The tables will be turned shortly when HRM finalizes its plans to convert major roads downtown to “one way” and will hopefully showcase how autos and cycles can share the road. Finally…to those individuals who think that bigger rules on the road…I hope your little car gets side swiped by a heavy truck! The road is there for all of us to enjoy and share, and with some knowledge, preperations, and a little common courtesy from everyone, all users will bennefit!
Unfortunately I think that the people of Halifax just won’t ever get it.
Cycling is good for your health, good for the environment and should be encouraged as it is in some of the most progressive cities in the world. Why are we encouraging smelly, expensive, disruptive, gas guzzling, single occupant vehicles in our downtown? What good is this really doing us?
Keep on cycling Agricola Cyclist! You’re going to be twice as physically fit and have half of the environmental impact as the drivers who try to make you feel bad for being a cyclist.