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Bicycle Paths

Cyclists are vehicles, bicycles are people.
wait...:D

And in response to rbt concerning the things I breathe in, this is just my personal experience. Certainly fine particulate matter is part of it, but when I'm standing behind a tailpipe of a box truck while idling at a red, I know what my problem is. This can be solved by fully dedicated biking routes. Bike boxes would also help to mitigate this problem.

Also, it's unclear what you mean by 'it'. Do you mean face masks or electric vehicles?

In the case of electric vehicles; their adoption would certainly help my breathing. If there is less junk in the air, my airways will not need to be fighting that junk on a daily basis, thus making the impacts of other irritants less severe.

In the case of my carbon filter mask; it may not get rid of all of the airborne pollutants, but it sure gets rid of almost all particulate matter.

My point is, any improvement in air quality is an improvement.
 
confusion said:
I always use the left turn lane on my bike, that being said, I see a lot of people who will go with the walk signals and then loop around and wait for the next signal instead of doing a left turn.

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When I went to holland that was normal... it makes more sense in many cases because you don't have the cyclist swerving through traffic to turn left.
 
waterloowarrior said:
When I went to holland that was normal... it makes more sense in many cases because you don't have the cyclist swerving through traffic to turn left.
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The trick with this is that you always have to cross on the right side of traffic. Otherwise, if a car turns right (but they aren't in the right turn lane), it can have bad consequences when you merge into traffic on the bike.

TK: Well, I completely agree.
 
waterloowarrior said:
When I went to holland that was normal... it makes more sense in many cases because you don't have the cyclist swerving through traffic to turn left.
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There's rarely any need to "swerve" anywhere when cycling, except when something unexpected happens.

I usually anticipate left turns, so I don't have to swerve over to the left turn lane. I merge over properly in advance. :)
 
vic said:
I usually anticipate left turns, so I don't have to swerve over to the left turn lane. I merge over properly in advance. :)
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Same here, but I find that very difficult if the traffic is dense or moving quickly. In those cases I usually try to avoid those streets in the first place.
 
Looks like fun!

Although I wish more visionaries knew how to design a website that is easy to read.
 
When Bicyclists Get Derailed by Streetcar Tracks

From the SF.STREETSBLOG.ORG website:

Bicycle wipeouts at intersections with streetcar tracks, like Duboce and Church or 17th Street and Church, are so common that I could hardly compose a post about the phenomenon without overhearing the familiar thud and "Are you okay?" of a bicyclist taking a spill. In fact, that's exactly what happened outside my window just now as I sat down to write.

Most of the time, cyclists are a bit shaken up, but okay. In the worst cases, I've seen people tumble head-first into parked cars and bounce off. Still, the worst damage is usually to their bikes, not to their person.

It's not hard to imagine someone getting seriously injured in such a spill, however. Even the damage done in the routine wipeouts that happen nearly every day is rattling enough to merit greater attention.

Experienced bicyclists tend to figure out the best way to navigate the tracks, but what can be done to prevent less-experienced bicyclists from getting stuck in the rail depressions so regularly?

In Toronto, where bicyclists also have to contend with a maze of tracks, several at-grade railroad crossings are equipped with a rubber flange filler that is jammed down into the cracks of trolley tracks. The rubber is firm enough that it doesn't compress when a bike passes over it, but when a streetcar comes it squishes down and doesn't cause the train to derail.

The material is not used for Toronto's extensive network of streetcar tracks in the city's core, however, and bikes routinely get caught in the tracks. "The at-grade railroad crossings do have some of that incorporated, but certainly not the main hazards to cyclists, which are the arterial road streetcar tracks," said Yvonne Bambrick, Executive Director of the Toronto Cyclists Union.

"There’s a lot of places where several tracks meet and turn. They’re trickier to navigate, but folks that have been at it for a while have figured out how to do it. It’s not that hard: you pay attention and learn how to do it, it’s all good. It does catch people fairly regularly."

Like San Francisco, Toronto is struggling to implement its bike network plan. Bambrick says that the solution to the tracks hazard should be part of that plan. "Within a network we could definitely address the issue in a site-specific kind of way," said Bambrick, "but I think if we’re just looking at roads as they are now across the city, that’s not as likely to be addressed. I think it has to be looked at in a wider sense of a dedicated cycling network."

Short of a miracle material, which could pose a challenge to maintain in an extensive network of streetcar tracks like San Francisco's, the solution could lie in marked pathways on the roadway to guide inexperienced riders.

"With an infrastructure upgrade ... in those pathways where cyclists can be predictably going through, you can have something in that point on the tracks to help alleviate the issues of the crossing," said Bambrick. In San Francisco, that might mean a miniature version of sharrows, which are normally used to indicate to bicyclists the ideal place to ride to avoid being doored by parked cars.

Once the bike plan injunction is lifted, 17th Street is due to be striped with bike lanes. The lanes' design takes into account the dangers of crossing Church from 17th Street, but not the danger of turning right onto 17th Street, westbound, from Church. The streetcar tracks at Duboce and Church will be completely replaced beginning next year, but without a solution to the bike wipeout problems. Neither of these projects have started yet, however, so there could still be time to advocate for designs that could avert this perilous problem.
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That's cool. All intersections should have this. As a cyclist and a rollerblader, I often get caught in these complex intersections. The one @ King + Spadina is impassible for rollerbladers...

... and San Francisco with a bike network? Are they nuts? lol... San Franciscans must have the most toned legs in the world walking and biking up those hills every day.
 
Gatineau & Finch

Did anyone notice that in big set of funds handed out for Recreation Infrastructure a couple of weeks ago....

That Toronto got funding for the Finch Hydro Corridor Bike Trail and the Gatineau Trail?

I added it up, its less that the City was asking for; so they may not be fully funded; but its several million dollars.

I believe these funds have to be fully used by 2011; so that means some major new bike trails for T.O.; finally!

:D
 
Been there, done that - twice! The second time was in front of The Torch, and I was going so slow knowing full well I could get sucked into those tracks at any moment, but it happened anyway. No big harm done either time (except a fall), but as the article states I can see how some pretty serious injuries can happen if someone gets caught in a track riding at a good clip.
The rubber flange filler would sure save a lot of injuries (so would fixing bad potholes and cracks in the pavement along the curb!)
 
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I would never attempt a bike left turn on a street with streetcar tracks. I do an indirect left, or hook turn.
 
Yonge Street has bike lanes South from Front to QQ, and North from QQ to the Esplanade. No idea why they stopped it there and not at front. Just wish they could find a way to continue it North...
 
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