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I trace my lust for breaking rules on my bike to my elementary school principal. When I was nine or 10 my parents invited my school principal over for dinner. She showed up on her bike and she wasn’t wearing her helmet. My mom, half-joking, scorned her for it. She told my mom she loved the feeling of the wind in her hair. For her, it was worth the risk. I thought that was pretty cool.
I like living in Canada. I like that we pay taxes in exchange for roads and libraries. I like that I can (mostly) say and do what I want. But, I don’t like our approach to riding bikes. This is especially true in Nova Scotia, and what Gloria McCluskey said the other day about licensing pedal bikes was typical of prevailing attitudes in Halifax.
The bike license story appeared on the CBC website and the comments (I know, I looked at the comments) actually contained good points for and against this proposal. The only voice missing from the conversation are these bad cyclists everyone hates.
I’ll speak on their behalf. I probably fit the description put forward by those cranks who say cyclists are yahoo lunatics with no regard for the rules and possibly life itself. I don’t do anything that crazy, but if I can cut a corner, I will. If I’m at a red light and there’s a break in traffic, I’ll dart across. If using a chunk of the sidewalk will get me somewhere quicker, I’ll use it—IF it’s empty. Drivers give me angry looks through their windshield. I respond with a shake of my head and an animated mouthing of “I don’t care.”
I justify this by believing there should be some bonus for being out there on your bike. It’s undeniably the best and most responsible thing to do for ourselves and our cities. It takes a car off the road and is a healthier choice physically. I also deny any creeping guilt by using that ancient good citizen test question; “if everyone else did this, would it still be ok?” Yes, it would, if all cyclists took these tantalizing shortcuts, we’d be fine.
There is a caveat—if everyone started riding bikes, I would adjust my felonious tendencies. If I didn’t follow rules, it would be a disservice to my fellow riders. Right now we’re too few, our numbers make these offences the work of a madman who acted alone rather than the one in the group who can’t conform.
Finally, the streets here are pretty much designed to kill us. The high number of crosswalks and buzzers and doodads give people a false sense of security. Our roads are dangerous by nature, and I ride my bike as a product of my environment. There have been successful examples of places in England and the Netherlands where cities have lowered speed limits and removed all street signs, a move that has eased congestion and reduced accidents. They’re called “naked streets.” Maybe we should give that a try, on the peninsula anyway. Until then, the supple beauty of the bike should be used to its full potential on the mean streets of Halifax.
Before Aaron wrecked his bike last year, the police had given him two no-helmet warnings. He now has one jay-walking warning.
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This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2014.
Awesome piece!! The rules of the road were never made with bicycles in mind. Nothing has changed on that front. Bicycles are still never top mind when considering what needs to be done to ease congestion or let alone the impacts of so many damn cars on the road. Global warming is already here, it is imperative that we do all we can to make people feel safe riding their bikes, or that we make public transit a truly convenient option and car driving truly inconvenient.
I don’t know…… I have a hard time siding with the attitude expressed in this piece. I follow ALL the rules when cycling and I’m still in a position of thwarting high risk of death every time.
If cyclists meet all the expectations and rules pushed upon them and are still considered a nuisance then perhaps that will focus attention on the real problems around the cycling issue.
“Area cyclist receives kudos for honesty; still richly deserves good old-fashioned cock-punch”
I think this article is full of shit. The Coast is the Hipster version of Sun News. I don’t even have cable and I know that’s an insult.
I’m calling BS on this one. Nice try, Coast.
ridiculous to think you don’t have to follow rules just because you are on a bike. if you want to drive it on a public road, you have to abide by the rules, same as everyone else. you have to stop at stop signs and red lights; you have to stop at crosswalks; you have to make lane changes correctly. this sanctimonious attitude because you’ve chosen a different mode of transport is self-serving bs. grow up
“If everyone started riding bikes, I would adjust my felonious tendencies. If I didn’t follow rules, it would be a disservice to my fellow riders.”
The fact that you don’t follow the rules IS a disservice to your fellow actual, extant, present-day riders.
Rule-breakers such as yourself are the primary reason that proper, law-abiding cyclists like myself have abuse — verbal, physical, and the occasional oral ablution — hurled at us. A goodly portion of drivers and pedestrians see the flaunter of the laws in action, and unfairly apply it to all. Your high-horsedness does nothing to change that perception.
Wait for a green light before moving forward. Stay off the sidewalk, period. Easy. Does way more for cycling in this city in the long run. The rest of us on two wheels appreciate it.
While I do agree that this sort of behaviour by a few does tend to cast all cyclists in the same (perhaps negative) light, at least in the eyes of drivers, there are a few good reasons why we shouldn’t be so concerned with rigorously following every single rule of the road that exists FOR CARS.
First, concerning stop signs and red lights… Cyclists have better all around visibility and maneuverability than cars. Also, if you are trying to move quickly, bikes can accelerate faster than cars over short distances (like through an intersection). So, yes I do think that cyclists should be forgiven for going through red lights and stop signs, so long as they STOP and CHECK first that it is safe.
Second, the fact is that many drivers are angry at cyclists simply because they are stuck in traffic while the cyclist is not. It would be helpful to consider the fact that every person who is riding a bicycle is helping to ease vehicle traffic for those who choose to drive their cars.
Finally, riding a bike on the sidewalk should also be considered from the perspective of a cyclist who considers riding in traffic to be too dangerous or frightening. Halifax does not have a lot of bike lanes and even the ones it does have are often ignored by drivers and do not offer the sense of security that some people might feel they need when riding their bikes around the city.
This being said, I think the author really missed the point on the issue and wasted his opportunity to contribute anything worthwhile to this ongoing debate in Halifax.
Well, you can see all the negative comments are coming from drivers who are stuck in traffic, wasting money whilst we cyclists are getting home faster and for free. Complain all you want bitches, we win!
Until the city/province accommodates us, we will continue to be in your way and in-your-face about it!
In the meantime, we will continue to save our thousands of dollars a year, making gains on our investments, getting healthier and laughing at you as we travel off on luxury vacations – paid from the savings of not owning albatrosses you call cars.
*LAUGHING* And now, to watch the dislikes roll in…
Thank you!
I actually feel completely safe running red lights and stop signs on my bike. Why? because like another commenter mentioned, I have better visibility, my bike is easy to maneuver, and I’ve done it for many years and never been hit.
Please, I would like to impress upon any reader who is the driver that rolls down their window to whine at me that they are a cyclist too and because I ran a red light or darted in and out of a lane in front of them, that I am “doing a disservice to all cyclists.” You are driving in your car, I don’t care if you are a cyclist and follow every rule and if you think that you are yelled at or honked at because of people like me, you are wrong. Since I have moved to Halifax, the only people who have raged at me about following the rules of the road are you “I’m a cyclist too” people. Learn to navigate your bike, stop driving around chastising people who know how to handle riding in traffic efficiently, and more importantly, if you’re “a cyclist too,” why are you driving an SUV downtown?
Commutergirl:
1) No problem with stop signs/red lights; I too tend to ignore them
2) Darting in and out of lanes is “suicide by automobile”. The most experienced cyclists will tell you that maintaining a straight line, whether far from or close to the curb, is your safest strategy. If darting in and out of lanes is your way of “avoiding parked cars”, simply take over the entire lane.
I somewhat sympathize with the author’s comments because most car drivers flaunt rules too: most of us speed, many folks don’t signal, there are a lot of dangerous lane changes etc. Something as minor as driving on the sidewalk when there are no peds around I don’t object to, not if driving on the street is dangerous. What a lot of car and truck drivers don’t notice is that the very margin of a road where a bicyclist has to drive is often strewn with debris and gravel or has other hazards…depending on the road.
Going through a red light/stop sign, well, hell, I’ve done it in a car…when it’s completely deserted. I wouldn’t do it on a bicycle or with a car if there were other vehicles at the intersection.
Generally speaking, though, bicycles are considered to be vehicles, and cyclists should behave like vehicles.
On a related note, one thing that also dissuades potential cyclists from commuting is the lack of shower and changing facilities at many work places, and sometimes a related difficulty of where do you secure your bicycle? And it’s not practical anyway to ride your bicycle in many NS weather events. Commuting distances can be a great challenge – you don’t have to be an obese slob to not want to bike for an hour when it would take 20 minutes in a car. So it’s not like you have to demonize everyone in a car as being anti-cyclist…many of us would like to do it too if the overall infrastructure and other factors were better.
I wish someone would put to rest the notion that all cyclists are world savers.
I’m a cyclist and I drive a car downtown, because… I got shit to do. (I do commute by bike every day though, pass the granola)
ps, stop running lights and signs, assholes.
Cycling is growing as a transport mode. That is good news for anyone that cares to think it through. This growth is thwarted by libertarian attitudes and the resultant behavior related to road safety. The Coast is a libertarian outlet – often in a good way – but in this case fundamentally wrong-headed.
we are so used to following rules in Canada, it’s appalling. These are bikes for goodness sakes, let’s get over it. I have travelled to many countries in the world that ride bikes, in much larger cities than Halifax, and their are no bike licences, and no rules and people go about their lives. Chill out, they are just bikes. If I want to ride on the side walk I will do it responsibly, if I am at a red light and no cars are coming , I am going without a green light. Halifax, get over yourself, it’s not Manhattan here, far from it.
“if everyone started riding bikes, I would adjust my felonious tendencies. If I didn’t follow rules, it would be a disservice to my fellow riders. “
I’ve got news for you, asshole. You’re already doing just that. I’m a responsible cyclist who follows the rules, and all I ever get is complaints about guys like you. Why don’t you grow up. One guy like you undoes what 1000 good cyclists do.
Man, this guy is a real rebel. He looks soooooo cool in his picture. I bet he was the most popular kid in high school with his traffic sign flaunting ways.