Cycling

This is a podcast from Steed Cycles in North Vancouver. It details a crash between a cycle ridden by Ben Bollinger and a car that ran a stop sign and struck him. It explains the injuries that he suffered and the "Enhanced Accident Benefits" that ICBC provided. He was part of the community voice that caused ICBC to stop billing uninsured, vulnerable road users for damages to the vehicle striking them.

The dreaded Right Hook: Where a driver passes by on the cyclist's left and then makes a right hand turn, oblivious to the fact that the cyclist was there and had to be yielded to. A study by University of Toronto Engineering found that drivers often fail to adequately scan for non-motorists when they turn right at intersections. In fact, more than half of 19 participants aged between 35 and 54 years old were guilty of this.

"Are there rules for riding bicycles?" a reader asks after narrowly missing a collision with a bicyclist. "They seem to ride wherever they feel like it. How is a driver supposed to know what bicycle riders are going to do?"

Cycling advocates in BC would like to see our government enact a safe passing distance law so that drivers are aware of how much space they must leave between their vehicle and the cycle as they drive by. Two US cities, Grand Rapids, Michigan and Knowville, Kentucky have such laws and were chosen by NHTSA for a study of how high visibility enforcement of the law influenced passing distances.

Here is another video from Road Guy Rob who explains about advisory bike lanes, just like the ones installed recently Victoria. In this case the installation was in San Diego, California and "the people living nearby lost their collective minds.  Here's why these lanes aren't quite as bad as local TV coverage claims."

The case of Carrero v Park takes place on North Road at the intersection with Rochester Street in Burnaby. Bobby Joe Carrero was riding his bicycle southbound on the sidewalk on the west side of North Road approaching the intersection. Na Young Park was driving southbound on North Road intending to make a right turn onto Rochester Street. Neither one saw the other as they approached the intersection.

Road Guy Rob examines a highway reconstruction project that rebuilt a highway through town. Raised medians were installed to separate the opposing lanes. He discusses two types of raised medians looking at how they are built, what they do and how they can be used to add safety features for pedestrians and cyclists.

Here is another video from Road Guy Rob. This time he observes that crossing the street on your bike should be easy and safe.  There are stop lights to help you, but they also invite cars onto your bike route.  Engineers in Tucson, Arizona solve this dilemma with two special signals just for bicycles: Toucans and BikeHAWKs.

Six small towns in British Columbia have been singled out for their leadership in Active Transportation. Burns Lake, Duncan, Gibsons, Nelson, Powell River and Rossland were examined for their efforts in promoting Active Transportation. The resulting report aims to assist other communities to improve Active Transportation within their boundaries by explaining the success of the six.