Dear Urban Diplomat: Do I have to slow down when pedestrians wander into the bike lane?
Dear Urban Diplomat,
The other day, I was biking to work along the path on Queens Quay when a pedestrian wandered into my lane. My light was green, so I kept riding and rang my bell a few times, but he was oblivious. When I swerved around him, I accidentally nicked him with the end of my handlebar. He seemed fine, but that didn’t stop him from screaming obscenities at me. I quickly apologized and told him to watch where he was going before biking off. I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?
—Road Worrier, Parkdale
Ever hear the phrase: “Pedestrians always have the right of way”? It’s mostly true. The Martin Goodman Trail is a multi-use pathway, meaning rollerbladers, joggers and, yes, even pedestrians are entitled to use it just as much as cyclists are. There are traffic lights specifically for bicycles, but green doesn’t mean go if some clueless mook ambles in front of you while live-tweeting his morning stroll. Just as cars generally yield to cyclists (or are supposed to), the onus here is on you—the bigger, faster vehicle—to avoid running into absent-minded humans. Next time, suck it up and slow down.
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com
Bicyclists are the most entitled group of commuters I have ever seen. They break every traffic law in the book and still expect the rest of society to acquiesce to their every demand.
Dear bikers, this guy is why people hate you. I would love to see the apoplectic rage if this letter was from a driver wondering if he’s allowed to hit cyclists when they do something wrong. “I hit him with my bike because I didn’t feel like slowing down, and can you believe he yelled at me? I could tell he wasn’t even injured when I didn’t stop or even turn around. I didn’t do anything wrong, did i?”
A bit of an over-generalization there, don’t you think? There are a few bad apples, which can be said about motorists too… Sounds like you may be one of them!
Nope, no “apopleptic rage” except from you, of course. I’m sure you’d be trolling that article as well.
Perhaps he had hearing problems. Would it have been so difficult to give him space?
I actually commute with my own two feet…so no I’m not.
While I agree that motorists are also bad I can honestly tell you that I have seen motorists breaking traffic laws at a far lower rate than the average cyclist in Toronto. When was the last time you saw an automobile decide that they didn’t want to wait at a red light so they’d just scoot on to the sidewalk and take the pedestrian cross walk instead? How many cars do you see weaving in between each other while waiting in traffic because they’re impatient? How many times do cars drive on the sidewalk and yell at pedestrians for being in there way?
Is it a generalization? Absolutely. A generalization from ten years experience living in the downtown core and putting up with them. The sample size is very large here.
They’re are some very self-righteous cyclists out there. But there are also a lot of us, I believe the majority, who commute by bike and obey traffic laws and generally try to be safe on roads that were not designed with bikes in mind and, as such, have no provisions for our safety. The good man trail is different, we all need to have situational awareness when we use multi-purpose trails such as this. Sounds like the rider could have slowed further to ensure there was no contact, but it was also accidental.
Anyways, if you look at our infastructure, cyclists make a lot of adaptations to avoid contact with motorists and / or pedestrians. Don’t make hasty generalizations.
It doesn’t count as trolling just because you disagree.
I’m afraid there’s not much to disagree with. Your comment didn’t really contain a cohesive thought or point. Just speculative nonsense attempting to portray cyclists as angry, when really you’re the angry one. The only real message I gathered from your comment is that people should hate all cyclists based on the actions of one jackass.
Oh please, riding on the sidewalk and yelling at people in their way? Now you’re just exaggerating. I live downtown too, and I would say that sounds like an isolated incident at best. As for those other things, I would say using the pedestrian crossing at a light is pretty harmless, albeit illegal. So is jay-walking, right? Come on. As for the weaving thing, not sure what you mean but I see cars changing lanes all the time, trying to get out of “slow lanes”. I’d say that amounts to impatience. I’d also say the entire downtown driving scene revolves around impatience. People would weave if they could fit! It’s just human nature.
I saw a driver smoke an ebike rider, who was then pinned under the car, and they couldn’t have cared less. So yes I wouldn’t be surprised to see a letter like that from an entitled whiny driver.
So drivers, fear not, you are despised even more. There just happen to be more of you.
Wow super bike apologist here. What this cyclist describes happens to me every time I’m on that trail, where yes, I have equal right of way, and just like I expect a car to slow down when there’s a bike ahead, I expect the bike to safely navigate around me not the other way around. It also happens to me on regular streets in Toronto. And I actually logged how many times I see bikes run red lights and it’s an average of once daily. And that’s just riding straight through, not using the pedestrian crossing, which also of course, happens daily even if there are fifteen pedestrians including elderly and disabled people around the hospital district trying to cross as well. I logged it for cars too but honestly, didn’t see enough incidents to feel like I could give you a weekly number even.
And how many pedestrians to you see who jaywalk or cross on the red when no cars are coming? The answer is, plenty.
How many motorists speed, or fail to signal lane changes? The answer is, plenty.
Each mode of transportation has its issues with scofflaws. This is not unique to cyclists.
I live on Queens Quay. My husband is visually impaired. You wouldn’t know it to see him as he doesn’t wear big glasses or have a walking stick (yet); he looks like a regular guy. It’s extremely difficult to cross our street now with the new bike path, street car tracks and car lanes – all with their own signals not to mention the tricky terrain below his feet within the 20 secs or so the pedestrian light gives. Perhaps you should think twice the next time you see a “clueless mook” stumble into your path!
“While I agree that motorists are also bad I can honestly tell you that I
have seen motorists breaking traffic laws at a far lower rate than the
average cyclist in Toronto.”
Confirmation bias. Police reports confirm that at most, cyclists break the law at the same rate as drivers, with far less harmful results.
Cyclist here. And I agree with the earlier contention 100% Cyclists are much likelier to run stops, reds etc. I don’t know about police reports but given how infrequently violations of any kind are ticketed I would question the relevance.
Your anecdata is not a substitute for verifiable facts.
Still waiting on those facts!
Even if you had some good numbers they would be very questionably comparable for bikes and cars. So many more cars on the road means more violations get caught, of course. Also different types of violations. Bikes aren’t going to get caught for speeding are they? You would need so much data about the numbers of each vehicle, the rate of infractions being caught… it’s just not going to happen.
In the absence of reliable data I’m going with my observed experience over decades of cycling in Toronto and elsewhere.
Ah, I see the problem. You didn’t read what I posted, which was about the RATE of violations, and is thus normalized. Also, your attempt to make speeding ‘special’ is ludicrous.
Your anecdata is worthless, because your bias is apparent.
Haha. No no. I am aware of the differerence bewteen rates and numbers. But you seem to have trouble producing the data. Still waiting. Also what is my bias? I am a cyclist who cares deeply about safety on the road. What I experience is a lot of dangerous design and some bad driving, but additionally cyclists who flout the law in a different and more flagrant way than car drivers.
No, you’re obviously not, since you ignored the difference and conflated incidents with rates.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-18/survey-finds-bicyclists-and-motorists-ignore-traffic-laws-similar-rates
You are done.
I didn’t conflate anything actually. I was trying to illustrate why such data a) don’t exist and b) would be impossible to compare fairly. You spoke about police reports then sent a link to a story where a guy “surveyed” people. Too funny. But not even close to backing up your contention. Also… You mad or something? Your tone is a bit rude.
You still arguing? You’ve been completely shut down. Move on.
No I haven’t. You dredged up a survey study from Colorado in place of actual numbers. Where are your “police reports?” Do you not understand this difference? If that’s the case this is a pointless discussion.
I presented a factual study in place of your biased anecdata, you mean.
And yes, this has been a pointless discussion for awhile, because you have presented nothing.
Sounds like the cyclist was trying to make a point but skirting past the pedestrian as close as s/he could. While the pedestrian should have been more aware of the surroundings, the cyclist’s handling of the situation is quite questionable.