Although I know some cyclists prefer to be on sidewalks, I still firmly believe we need to stay on the roads. With that being said I know some roads in this city don’t have enough room for a bike to travel safely on the road, so we need to take the lane but then this causes anger from motorists. What I’ve learned though is that if there isn’t enough room to travel safely on the road for your bike, just find an alternate route. I often save myself the stress of riding on busy roads by taking side streets instead.
It still frustrates me seeing people on bikes riding down the sidewalk while I’m places like Milk downtown. Someone could walk out of the business and be hit by a bike. I was at those meetings where a officer of the Windsor Police was at the WBC meetings and he said they don’t have the time to enforce people riding on the sidewalks. He even said his own Father feels safer riding on the sidewalks.
I didn’t get the impression that he supported riding on the sidewalks though. It seemed that they just don’t have the resources to enforce it since he said it’s often hard to catch them.
Even saying all this, while riding on the Riverfront Trail I’m always coming close to running into people because they don’t look where they’re going. Twice yesterday people started walking onto the trail without looking up or from side to side. Would they do that on a road? This is yet another reason why I prefer to ride on the road though or bike lanes.
I’m happy the city is still making multi-use lanes, but I’m continually frustrated with them do to poor markings. They should clearly mark the trails and possibly separate lanes for cyclists and pedestrians. They should also more clearly mark the existing bike lanes since so many don’t even have proper markings to show drivers that they are bike lanes, other than a white line.
What is the government doing to help teach drivers that bicycles belong on the road though? Even while Steve was riding on Riverside this week an angry driver told him he belongs on the sidewalk.
Kari
A reply to this letter is being composed by a member of the WBC, and will show up soon in the paper, hopefully.
With Windsor being such a car-centric city, the only thing we can do as cyclists is to follow the rules of the road and ensure motorists see you. If a driver honks or tells you to get off the road, don’t relent, but don’t react. Once there are more cyclists out there (in the next few months of riding weather, and in the next few years as people realize that driving a car is not the only way to get around), it’ll get easier.
My rides down Assumption and University so far this week have been incident-free. Hopefully my commute remains as uneventful!
Darren
My rides have been fine too mostly because I pick other routes where I don’t feel safe on the road. Even when I have to though like on Matchette, the drivers have been ok so far this year. I still see annoying things though like when I was waiting for a light today and a cyclist went by from the sidewalk, riding no hands then onto the eastbound bike lane, but he was travelling west. Another cyclist I saw on Prince the other day was riding on the sidewalk too where there are two very clear bike lanes. I don’t understand why. Cyclists still put their lives in danger in my opinion by riding in every which way and on sidewalks and roads.
Although I know some cyclists prefer to be on sidewalks, I still firmly believe we need to stay on the roads. With that being said I know some roads in this city don’t have enough room for a bike to travel safely on the road, so we need to take the lane but then this causes anger from motorists. What I’ve learned though is that if there isn’t enough room to travel safely on the road for your bike, just find an alternate route. I often save myself the stress of riding on busy roads by taking side streets instead.
It still frustrates me seeing people on bikes riding down the sidewalk while I’m places like Milk downtown. Someone could walk out of the business and be hit by a bike. I was at those meetings where a officer of the Windsor Police was at the WBC meetings and he said they don’t have the time to enforce people riding on the sidewalks. He even said his own Father feels safer riding on the sidewalks.
I didn’t get the impression that he supported riding on the sidewalks though. It seemed that they just don’t have the resources to enforce it since he said it’s often hard to catch them.
Even saying all this, while riding on the Riverfront Trail I’m always coming close to running into people because they don’t look where they’re going. Twice yesterday people started walking onto the trail without looking up or from side to side. Would they do that on a road? This is yet another reason why I prefer to ride on the road though or bike lanes.
I’m happy the city is still making multi-use lanes, but I’m continually frustrated with them do to poor markings. They should clearly mark the trails and possibly separate lanes for cyclists and pedestrians. They should also more clearly mark the existing bike lanes since so many don’t even have proper markings to show drivers that they are bike lanes, other than a white line.
What is the government doing to help teach drivers that bicycles belong on the road though? Even while Steve was riding on Riverside this week an angry driver told him he belongs on the sidewalk.
A reply to this letter is being composed by a member of the WBC, and will show up soon in the paper, hopefully.
With Windsor being such a car-centric city, the only thing we can do as cyclists is to follow the rules of the road and ensure motorists see you. If a driver honks or tells you to get off the road, don’t relent, but don’t react. Once there are more cyclists out there (in the next few months of riding weather, and in the next few years as people realize that driving a car is not the only way to get around), it’ll get easier.
My rides down Assumption and University so far this week have been incident-free. Hopefully my commute remains as uneventful!
My rides have been fine too mostly because I pick other routes where I don’t feel safe on the road. Even when I have to though like on Matchette, the drivers have been ok so far this year. I still see annoying things though like when I was waiting for a light today and a cyclist went by from the sidewalk, riding no hands then onto the eastbound bike lane, but he was travelling west. Another cyclist I saw on Prince the other day was riding on the sidewalk too where there are two very clear bike lanes. I don’t understand why. Cyclists still put their lives in danger in my opinion by riding in every which way and on sidewalks and roads.