Two recent observations.
Having been a daily recreational cyclist for ten years now, I've really noticed a change in driver behaviour since the the new 1-metre clearance law in Ontario was put into place. At least in the urban and rural areas where I live.
Quote:
Many commented that vehicles would have no choice but to cross the centre dividing line to give cyclists a wide enough berth.
Police say that's exactly what drivers should do when it's warranted and safe, just as they do on rural roads to pass slower vehicles.
"[Drivers are] able to cross that yellow line … when it's safe to do so," Ottawa police spokesman Const. Chuck Benoit said in an interview this week.
But what about when there's oncoming traffic in the opposing lane?
"The motorist has to stay behind the cyclist until it's safe to [pass]," Benoit said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...vice-1.3650574
|
Emphasis added. The imbeciles have flooded the comments section on this story, as they do with every news story or opinion article about cycling, with the typical nonsense that imbeciles who drive cars tend to believe, which is disheartening, but there's nothing like a bit of official encouragement to get people to change the way they drive.
So I'm noticing that I'm being given more space on rural two-lane roadways with an 80 km/h limit (I do try to stay off these kinds of roads as much as I can, but they're unavoidable for certain routes). Which is good. What isn't good is that instead of slowing down and waiting when there's oncoming traffic, what they do is maintain their speed and get right over so that they're touching or even over the centre line(s), forcing oncoming cars to move over to avoid a head-on collision.
That's a recipe for disaster. Though I can understand the impatience with having to slow down. The other day I was in my car on some nice rural roads west of Waterloo that were dotted with individual cyclists, to the point where I couldn't drive at speed (80+ km/h) for more than a few moments without having to slow down, wait until the cyclist I was behind crested the hill, ascertain that there was no oncoming traffic, and then go into the oncoming lane to pass said hill-climbing cyclist. This happened over and over again.
A country drive that thirty years ago would have consisted simply of cruising at 80+ km/h because the paucity of cyclists meant the concept of "sharing the road" hadn't been invented yet? That's a thing of the past. Now drivers are confronted with all kinds of people on bikes, and I can tell it pains them to have to slow down. So they tend not to, and they swerve into the oncoming lane. Even on hilly roads where you wouldn't, by law, be allowed to pass a car.
It remains to be seen how this plays out. But my hope is that the brute force of unyielding logic combined with increasing cycling rates will eventually bring driving conventions more in line with the courtesies that drivers show cyclists in most countries in Europe.
The other day I did a fun ride along the Martin Goodman Trail along the lake shore in Toronto. It was very enjoyable, but it pains me to admit that a lot of lycra-clad roadies on their racing bikes are assholes. I say this as a fully paid-up and devoted member of the clan, but I hadn't really noticed the aggression before (clearly because I don't ride in the city very much).
Said trail is a multi-use path. This means that everyone is on it, from cyclists of every stripe to walkers, joggers and roller-bladers. But the same road cyclists who whine about sharing the road out on the highways have no qualms about not sharing the MUP, and that's maddening. The Martin Goodman Trail is not an appropriate venue for a training ride for groups of road cyclists at high speeds.
Fer crissakes. I mean, I know fully well that the whole point of road bikes is that they're fast, and I love going fast, but I came across group after group of menacing roadies weaving around walkers and joggers, just generally making the experience unpleasant and dangerous.
If you're charging along the MGT at a dangerous pace and shouting at families with toddlers up ahead to "get out of the way!"...you just might be an asshole.
I'm convinced that MUPs need speed limits. At least, some of the busier sections do. Probably 25 km/h. Which, again, is painful for me to admit, because east of Queen's Quay where there are fewer pedestrians I couldn't help but crank it up to 40+ km/h. But I have to be honest and face reality.