General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

[steveintoronto]

Salsa: Will take a closer look later, didn't realize you'd have GPS, but south of Uxbridge crossing Concession 7, Uxbridge-Pickering Townline Road becomes a multi-purpose trail/track from Conc. 6 to Glen Major Rd (Conc 7), and is excellent for cycling, albeit you'll have to walk in some spots due to steep winding dirt track on hills. (By the ski slopes) Been a few years since I've done that region, Glen Major Forest is enchanted. Don't let that map fool you into thinking it's straight, anything but in spots. Concession 7 is gravel on the lower part, paved on northern part to Uxbridge, but very picturesque, and fast gravel when I last did it. I usually work my way down to Rouge Hill Station via White's Rd, which is tolerable south of Steeles, but attainable to that point by little used gravel roads. If you alter your course to do Glen Major Forest, it will take a bit more time, but is a popular cyclist route, albeit mostly off-roaders, there's a cycling school just north of there. You could then pick-up the GPS route indicated where it joins Uxbridge-Pickering Townline.

I presumed you were downtown, but being up where you are, looks like you might have found a great way in. And GPS means you never have to stop to check a map. The work of Satan I tell you...

Are you doing this all in one day?

Edit: Whoops! Correction, the dirt track hill next to ski-hills is to the *east* of Conc 7, ending on Lakeridge Rd, which is a busy arterial. I use that alignment to continue east. To the west of Conc 7, Townline is cyclable all the way through to Conc 6, where it becomes a vehicle gravel road again, albeit minimal traffic, hilly and very pleasant riding. Unless they've dumped fresh gravel, it's well packed and easy to negotiate.

 

[bilked]

It’s pretty hard to call Toronto a bike-friendly culture when we blame cyclists who are victims of intentional weaponized assault (like the goateed knobist at 1:20 of this 680 news video):

http://www.680news.com/2016/08/25/taxi-driver-charged-after-running-into-bike-courier/

The cyclist has been charged too somehow. Good grief.

 

[steveintoronto]

It’s pretty hard to call Toronto a bike-friendly culture when we blame cyclists who are victims of intentional weaponized assault (like the goateed knobist at 1:20 of this 680 news video):

http://www.680news.com/2016/08/25/taxi-driver-charged-after-running-into-bike-courier/

This one incident neither makes or breaks Toronto as a cycling city, but be aware, the story is more complex than it looks, and I (an avid cyclist) have had problems with these 'food couriers' myself. It's a desperate job to be sure, but many of them ride desperately too.

Bike courier seen in viral video struck by taxicab charged with assault


Baldeep Cheema, 31, faces one assault charge. It is alleged he assaulted the driver of the taxicab that later hit him. [...]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...o-struck-by-taxicab-charged-with-assault.html

 

[bilked]

Whether or not that courier (or couriers in general) are angelic road users, let's call a spade a spade - he was clearly criminally assaulted. One incident doesn't define us, but it does speak to the culture in this city when the media response is to give that goateed guy a platform to put down the "cycling community" and blame the victim for bringing it on himself.

 

[rbt]

The cyclist has been charged too somehow. Good grief.

Seems appropriate to me. Based on this very brief writeup the cyclist continued to escalate the earlier physical fight after the taxi driver had left the point of conflict.

You don't get to walk away blame free just because the guy you are picking on happened to have a weapon on hand. You do get the lesser of the blame though.

 

[bilked]

You don't get to walk away blame free just because the guy you are picking on happened to have a weapon on hand. You do get the lesser of the blame though.

Ok.

 

[steveintoronto]

Ok.

You completely miss the point, albeit there's a sizable segment of the biking world that thinks like you. Everyone else is to blame all the time for anything that happens to a cyclist. You do the cycling cause far more harm than good. I see a lot of cyclists doing crazy things, but of course, it's never their fault.

If you want a recent incident to rant about, it's the girl last week that got doored. Still nothing in the news as to the driver being charged under the HTA. I can think of at least two clauses he violated. Both will cost him demerits as well as money.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...ghlights-danger-of-parking-in-bike-lanes.html

 

[bilked]

I think we must have been watching a different video of a cabbie driving onto the sidewalk to ram his cab into a cyclist.

 

[steveintoronto]

I think we must have been watching a different video of a cabbie driving onto the sidewalk to ram his cab into a cyclist.

Well you think wrong, again. I posted it here last week. He drove into the curb, not onto the sidewalk. Is there anything you can't get wrong?

 

[bilked]

He drove into the curb, not onto the sidewalk. Is there anything you can't get wrong?

Huh? I'd watch again.

 

[Napoleon]

This one incident neither makes or breaks Toronto as a cycling city, but be aware, the story is more complex than it looks, and I (an avid cyclist) have had problems with these 'food couriers' myself. It's a desperate job to be sure, but many of them ride desperately too.

I agree. It is indeed deplorable that the taxi attempted to run him off the road, because far more serious injury or even death could have resulted, although I did have a feeling that something happened before the camera started rolling. I've definitely seen some bad biking behaviour from food couriers as well. Even though biking is my primary mode of transportation in Toronto, I would love to see some more enforcement, especially with red lights. I've seen a few too many close calls recently.

 

[salsa]

Ok.

How is this disturbing video related to the cabbie incident?

 

[bilked]

How is this disturbing video related to the cabbie incident?

It's totally unacceptable to suggest that Janay Palmer somehow had it coming or was responsible for the episode because she slapped and then weakly punched Ray Rice before he clobbered her and knocked her unconscious. People recognize the inherent power imbalance between between this young woman and a jacked professional football player.

Our city's discourse, even in this forum, doesn't seem to recognize the inherent vulnerability of cyclists and their powerlessness compared to drivers of 4-ton vehicles that can easily double as deadly weapons when someone loses their cool.

 

[rbt]

Our city's discourse, even in this forum, doesn't seem to recognize the inherent vulnerability of cyclists and their powerlessness compared to drivers of 4-ton vehicles that can easily double as deadly weapons when someone loses their cool.

Read the article link which I responded to.

Cyclist and Cabbie had a physical fight. It doesn't say where they were relative to the vehicles.

Cabbie leaves (now driving in their car if they weren't in it for the physical fight).

Cyclist chases the cabbie down and starts knocking on the window.

It's pretty damn clear the cyclist had a role in escalating the level of violence occurring and assaulted the cabbie at least once. The cabbies completely inappropriate response does not suddenly make the cyclists behaviour correct or justifiable.

I'm almost always a pedestrian. If you're able to legally justify this cyclists behaviour then my walks next to bike lanes are going to be a heck of a lot more interesting.

 

[BurlOak]

Huh? I'd watch again.

The video shows the bicyclist banging on the window before the car cut him off. Then a number of witnesses can be heard saying that the cyclist was hounding the car for several blocks.

Sound similar to the Michael Bryant situation. Aggressive action by a car driver can be accepted if the cyclist acts in a threatening manner.
Or, its because Bryant was a rich Liberal and others doing a similar thing should be punished hard.