A decade of VACC advocacy efforts has clearly produced results: bikes on transit, safer biking on bridges, new bike routes, more lockers and parking for bikes. These efforts may also have contributed to cycling issues being reported in the news. On May 7th, Vancouver City Council, after much public debate, voted to convert the southbound curb lane on the Burrard Bridge to a southbound cycling lane to make the east sidewalk a northbound cycling lane and to restrict pedestrians to the west sidewalk. Starting mid to late June, this open-ended trial of the “pragmatic option,” as Mayor Gregor Robertson has characterized it, will involve many changes to which all commuters, whatever their mode of transport over this bridge, will need to be extra alert.

 

Transportation issues including cycling infrastructure are also important components of all the party platforms in the BC provincial election. Even the helmet law debate resurfaces as various groups continue to collect and interpret statistics about their effectiveness. The licensing of cyclists and/or instituting a fee-based annual bicycle registration system are also provocative topics.  However distorted a picture it may be, a citizenry divided according to those who bike and those who don’t provides a wealth of stories.

 

The latest ICBC annual crash and injury statistics for cyclists are holding at 1,300 and 1,400 respectively, which seem to indicate a strong correlation between the two. Advocates for more cycling say safety comes in numbers. Road Rules advocates knowledge, skill, and experience on the part of all roadway users and likes the following tips for cyclists on the VACC website for safely navigating the highest risk stretches of most trips—intersections:

      

When going straight, anticipate that drivers don’t see you. Proceed on a green light only after checking for red-light-runners. Watch out for right-turning vehicles cutting across your (right curb cycling) lane. To avoid this, enter the intersection in the adjacent vehicle lane either behind—so you can see the turn signal—or ahead—so the driver can see you. Use the arrow-directed vehicle lanes and if you can’t safely get there, dismount and use the crosswalk. If your lane becomes right-turn-only, shoulder check, signal, and move to the right side of the straight-through lane when safe to do so.

 

When left turning, shoulder check, signal and position yourself in the left side of the lane or in the left-turn lane so that cars cannot pass you on the left. Yield to oncoming traffic and make your turn. Never proceed directly from the right side of the road, even if you are in a bike lane. Alternatively, proceed straight through the intersection on the right, dismount, and cross in the pedestrian crosswalk.