NDP proposal: give bikes three feet on the road
Like most opposition bills, it will probably amount to nothing, but Cheri DiNovo (the NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park) has brought a bill to Queen’s Park to make things easier on cyclists in Ontario and no doubt further enrage motorists:
Under DiNovo’s proposed amendment to the Highway Traffic Act, motorists would have to give cyclists a berth of three feet when travelling under 50 km/h (the speed limit on most city streets), four feet for speeds between 50 km/h and 80 km/h and five feet for over 80 km/h.
Fines of between $310 and $750 would be imposed on scofflaws.
Reporters love cyclists, since they guarantee regular content, but this proposal sounds unworkable in a city like Toronto. Between dedicated bike lanes in some places and gridlock in the rest, even conscientious drivers would have a hard time moving a full metre out of the way of each and every cyclist they pass. If unconscientious drivers are the problem, a new law will change nothing.
The premier was quick to throw cold water on the proposal, though the Globe cheekily notes that Dalton McGuinty maintains not three, but five feet between himself and reporters.
• NDP bill proposes 3-foot buffer around cyclists on road [Toronto Star]
• Ontario aims to increase cyclist safety [Globe and Mail]
• Ont. bill compels cars to give bikes space [CBCNews.ca]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/ndp-proposal-give-bikes-three-feet-on-the-road/&title=NDP proposal: give bikes three feet on the road&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/3feet.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_27136" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Watch this space (Image: Dylan Passmore)"][/caption]
Like most opposition bills, it will probably amount to nothing, but Cheri DiNovo (the NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park) has brought a bill to Queen's Park to make things easier on cyclists in Ontario and no doubt further enrage motorists:
Under DiNovo’s proposed amendment to the Highway Traffic Act, motorists would have to give cyclists a berth of three feet when travelling under 50 km/h (the speed limit on most city streets), four feet for speeds between 50 km/h and 80 km/h and five feet for over 80 km/h.
Fines of between $310 and $750 would be imposed on scofflaws.
Reporters love cyclists, since they guarantee regular content, but this proposal sounds unworkable in a city like Toronto. Between dedicated bike lanes in some places and gridlock in the rest, even conscientious drivers would have a hard time moving a full metre out of the way of each and every cyclist they pass. If unconscientious drivers are the problem, a new law will change nothing.
The premier was quick to throw cold water on the proposal, though the Globe cheekily notes that Dalton McGuinty maintains not three, but five feet between himself and reporters.
• NDP bill proposes 3-foot buffer around cyclists on road [Toronto Star]
• Ontario aims to increase cyclist safety [Globe and Mail]
• Ont. bill compels cars to give bikes space [CBCNews.ca]){kind=link}
Do our MPP’s even know what it’s like to get around a busy downtown core like Toronto?!? Have they any idea the gridlock that’s already there? I swear, we have a bunch of monkeys at Queen’s Park and at City Hall. I have respect for cyclists and think that getting around on a bicycle if you can, is good overall. However…if you give a cyclist 3 feet…you’ve effectively taken away an entire lane on city roads that probably could use another 2 lanes (both ways) in order to effectively alleviate the rush hour traffic crunch.
I get that the government is trying encourage cycling because it’s a green solution and cost-saving, but when you do that, you are missing a lot of factors.
1) most people simply cannot get around on a bike alone (or even with help of the TTC) because it’s impractical to bike to where they are going (either the distance is too much or because of other reasons). It might make sense for people who live and work downtown, but that’s a minority. I’d say a sizable portion of the workforce in downtown Toronto commutes to work and therefore, biking just doesn’t make sense. A lot of them drive simply because public transportation is unreliable and impractical from where they live.
2) biking is a seasonal activity and is only practical 1/3 to 1/2 of the year. What happens the rest of the year? Why bother arguing about legislation like this and proposing absurd ideas like University Ave. bike lanes, when most of the year, people can’t/won’t use their bikes anyways? I’d like you to count how many cyclists are out there when the city when it’s -10 degrees C (or even 4 degrees for matter), or when we’re being pounded with 20 cm of snow, or when it’s pouring rain. Sadly, those situations happen pretty often. We don’t live in tropics.
What I would much rather our politicians talk about is how to improve public transportation and our roads. Those are more worthwhile topics of change than this.
Compared to most other cities I’ve cycled in, Toronto doesn’t give nearly enough room to cyclists. Bike lanes are put within swing distance of car doors, motorists don’t move over in shared lanes to give cyclists enough room. There’s a “we own the road” attitude from some motorists.
Even if motorists had to give a proper 1-metre passing space to cyclists, those cyclists would still be taking up less space on the road than another car. And passing safely is a lot cheaper and simpler than putting in expensive bike lanes that just aren’t suited to some roads.
And @B, dunno if you realize it, but snow and ice don’t actually stick around much in Toronto. Even non-winter cyclists can and do cycle year-round, skipping a bad day or a week, but not being kept off their bike for long.