OT: Jets Lounge: Winds of Winter (no Star Wars spoilers!)

[SLAYER]

As a pedestrian...I have been hit by a bike and it ****ing sucks...

I don't disagree or anything. I just wanted you all to know that I got hit by some asshat on a bike when I was 6.

I was also hit by a dude on a bike when I was a kid.

I'm also going to have to agree with Holden on this one. I personally wouldn't cycle in traffic... F that noise, drivers are crazy.

 

[irunthepeg]

I disagree completely. All cyclists should be on sidewalks (except maybe right downtown where they have bike routes). Cyclists on the road are very very dangerous. And I look at it like this. If a car hits a cyclist, cyclist is likely dead. Cyclist hits a pedestrian you have maybe some scraps and bruises. Far safer away from roads.

Thank you. On highways they should stay on the shoulder SINGLE FILE! Nothing irks me more then when I'm driving home and these two clowns are side by side having a chat... if you want to chat, go to a coffee shop or one of your places. You want to be treated as motorists yet motorists never share a lane...

Other gems I've experienced as someone driving a car and seeing a cyclist: them wanting to be part of the traffic lineup yet cycling and cutting to the front of the line at a light therefore making it difficult for all those people who were ahead of them to pass them (again). Shout out to the ones that scoot on to the sidewalk and then drive through a red light just cause there's no oncoming traffic or the ones that never stop at red lights.

 

[cbcwpg]

Re Bikes:

What I want to see...

If the taxpayers are going to spend money building you a bike path then you better damn well use it. Busy street, cars doing 60 or more, a bike path 3 meters from the road, and some a-hole on his bike is on the street holding up traffic...

I want it to be illegal to ride a bike on any street that has an adjacent bike path. And I don't mean ticket illegal... I mean the cops catch you and reprocess your bike on the spot. You just became a pedestrian.

 

[AngelicAssassin*]

I disagree completely. All cyclists should be on sidewalks (except maybe right downtown where they have bike routes). Cyclists on the road are very very dangerous. And I look at it like this. If a car hits a cyclist, cyclist is likely dead. Cyclist hits a pedestrian you have maybe some scraps and bruises. Far safer away from roads.

Take it you've never been nailed by someone on a bike. Where you at, I can fix that for you!

Seriously, they're called sidewalks for a reason. When I'm in the city I don't walk on the street except maybe sometimes during destruction season when sidewalks are blocked. Out in the country I walk on the road but have never been hit by a speeding tractor.

Don't know the numbers but I would expect that a majority of bike riders do it on the street and while there are cyclist/motor vehicle collisions they don't appear to be great in number. Cyclist/pedestrian mishaps on a sidewalk are not likely even being reported in a way that gets any coverage.

And someone correct me if I am wrong but is it not a violation of the law to ride your bike on the sidewalk but it is one of those crimes that if the police were to enforce, that is all they would be doing all day?

 

[cbcwpg]

And someone correct me if I am wrong but is it not a violation of the law to ride your bike on the sidewalk but it is one of those crimes that if the police were to enforce, that is all they would be doing all day?

145 (8) Bicycles on sidewalks- Subject to subsection (9), no person shall operate on a sidewalk a bicycle with a rear wheel the diameter of which exceeds 410 mm.


Hmmmmm.... I'm thinking I need smaller wheels on my bike.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Take it you've never been nailed by someone on a bike. Where you at, I can fix that for you!

Seriously, they're called sidewalks for a reason. When I'm in the city I don't walk on the street except maybe sometimes during destruction season when sidewalks are blocked. Out in the country I walk on the road but have never been hit by a speeding tractor.

Don't know the numbers but I would expect that a majority of bike riders do it on the street and while there are cyclist/motor vehicle collisions they don't appear to be great in number. Cyclist/pedestrian mishaps on a sidewalk are not likely even being reported in a way that gets any coverage.

And someone correct me if I am wrong but is it not a violation of the law to ride your bike on the sidewalk but it is one of those crimes that if the police were to enforce, that is all they would be doing all day?

I have. And I will take 1000 people with scrapes on the knees over 1 death every time. Must be my misguided morality at play.

And that's highly exaggerating number of bike-pedestrian collisons versus bike-car collisons, IMO. Bikes are very very dangerous on roads, even if people are obeying the traffic laws. And those are high potential. Putting cyclists on sidewalks reduces collisons from potentially fatal to potentially slightly harmful. It just makes sense. Its also much easier for a person with normal reaction times to use their bike to avoid a collison going 10-25 kph than a person to dodge in their car going 50-70kph.

 

[AngelicAssassin*]

I have. And I will take 1000 people with scrapes on the knees over 1 death every time. Must be my misguided morality at play.

And that's highly exaggerating number of bike-pedestrian collisons versus bike-car collisons, IMO. Bikes are very very dangerous on roads, even if people are obeying the traffic laws. And those are high potential. Putting cyclists on sidewalks reduces collisons from potentially fatal to potentially slightly harmful. It just makes sense. Its also much easier for a person with normal reaction times to use their bike to avoid a collison going 10-25 kph than a person to dodge in their car going 50-70kph.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on your misguided morality.

The rules of the road dictate that motor vehicle operators and cyclists abide by the same rules. So when an accident occurs one or the other or both are responsible in some way. When some ****stick POS cyclist hits a pedestrian on the sidewalk there is no circumstance whatsoever where the pedestrian is at fault.

My grandmother and this goes back to the early 80's was hit by a cyclist on a sidewalk who barrelled around a corner at full speed. She ended up with a broken hip and a woman once active despite her age was never really the same again.

Cyclist never stopped to check on her. Took off and was never id'ed to be charged. Over the years I've been hot a couple times and had near misses so close I could smell ass breath on the waste of flesh.

And as has been pointed out it is a violation of the criminal code to ride on the sidewalk unless you're riding what a kiddie bike then I say get on the road or get lost.

 

[buggs]

Thank you. On highways they should stay on the shoulder SINGLE FILE! Nothing irks me more then when I'm driving home and these two clowns are side by side having a chat... if you want to chat, go to a coffee shop or one of your places. You want to be treated as motorists yet motorists never share a lane...

Other gems I've experienced as someone driving a car and seeing a cyclist: them wanting to be part of the traffic lineup yet cycling and cutting to the front of the line at a light therefore making it difficult for all those people who were ahead of them to pass them (again). Shout out to the ones that scoot on to the sidewalk and then drive through a red light just cause there's no oncoming traffic or the ones that never stop at red lights.

Or a cyclist could simply do what you're supposed to do on a bike: stop at the point in the line where you are rather than illegally passing vehicles on the right. I do it and it freaks drivers out. They're completely befuddled by it.

I ride my bike like I'd want cyclists to ride when I'm driving. Frankly I hate probably a majority of cyclists in this city because they are entitled morons a lot of the time. Scooting up beside traffic lines (worse, rolling onto the sidewalk to get ahead of the line of traffic and then bumping back down the curb at the front of the line). Don't get me started on the militant "I'm entitled to the entire lane in the middle of a snowstorm crowd".

Don't really like riding on sidewalks though I usually cross the Main Street bridge there, largely because the river walk under Main is nearly constantly flooded this year. But only going back out of downtown, there may be a cycling lane on Main heading southbound out of downtown but it's completely nuts between Broadway and Stradbrook any time of day.

Respectfully disagree with cyclists being on sidewalks. Going back again to the headphones/cellphone issue - people don't pay any attention anymore at all. I have a bell on my bike and use it but maybe 10-20% of people hear it - the ones without headphones. Far too much potential for an accident and I really don't want to travel at 5-10 kph dodging disengaged pedestrians. You're tripling my commute time when you suggest that, reducing the cardio benefits of the exercise.

I don't take up more than three feet at the side of the road, I don't swerve to miss puddles or potholes. I'll use trails/paths/sidestreets wherever I am able. But you are right, it's a high risk event to ride on the roads. FWIW and it ain't much I commute 13 km each way. I'm on a major route for about 1 km total (mostly on Main in the bus/bike lane). The only time I feel at risk is the 300 meters I do on Osborne at around 7:00 A.M. until I get to the access point for the bike trail along the river.

 

[ps241]

Good debate.

I have enjoyed allot of what I have read on dedicated cycling lanes in other urban centres like Copenhagen, Minneapolis, and Calgary and what impact it has on increasing cycling numbers, safety, and bike traffic and there are some pretty plausible arguments for it (although to say it's a hotly contested subject would be an understatement). This is a good article written on the topic.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/empowerment-on-wheels-314510231.html

 

[sully1410]

Good debate.

I have enjoyed allot of what I have read on dedicated cycling lanes in other urban centres like Copenhagen, Minneapolis, and Calgary and what impact it has on increasing cycling numbers, safety, and bike traffic and there are some pretty plausible arguments for it (although to say it's a hotly contested subject would be an understatement). This is a good article written on the topic.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/empowerment-on-wheels-314510231.html

We got bike lanes here in Calgary and ****ing pissed everyone off. Why? I don't know. But everyone was mad about it lol.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

If we ever get real bike lanes on the streets of Winnipeg, I may consider biking on the road. Until then I'll be on the sidewalk, being careful not to hit anyone. I'd rather be hit by a bike while walking, than either hit a person on a bike with my car or be hit by a car on my bike. Honestly don't care much about that 'law' anyway, nobody enforces it and it is a stupid law.

 

[irunthepeg]

Respectfully disagree with cyclists being on sidewalks. Going back again to the headphones/cellphone issue - people don't pay any attention anymore at all. I have a bell on my bike and use it but maybe 10-20% of people hear it - the ones without headphones. Far too much potential for an accident and I really don't want to travel at 5-10 kph dodging disengaged pedestrians. You're tripling my commute time when you suggest that, reducing the cardio benefits of the exercise.

I don't take up more than three feet at the side of the road, I don't swerve to miss puddles or potholes. I'll use trails/paths/sidestreets wherever I am able. But you are right, it's a high risk event to ride on the roads. FWIW and it ain't much I commute 13 km each way. I'm on a major route for about 1 km total (mostly on Main in the bus/bike lane). The only time I feel at risk is the 300 meters I do on Osborne at around 7:00 A.M. until I get to the access point for the bike trail along the river.

Totally fair and I see where you're coming from. Either way, someone is endangered by having cyclists on the roads or the paths sometimes Ban cyclists?

 

[DRC]

Finished gutting my cousin's basement. Only 3 dead rats fell on me out of the joists ripping out the old insulation. Now I get to reframe the whole basement because Mickey mouse used to own her house. It's only just begun...

 

[sully1410]

Finished gutting my cousin's basement. Only 3 dead rats fell on me out of the joists ripping out the old insulation. Now I get to reframe the whole basement because Mickey mouse used to own her house. It's only just begun...

You better tell to get more beers

 

[HannuJ]

If we ever get real bike lanes on the streets of Winnipeg, I may consider biking on the road. Until then I'll be on the sidewalk, being careful not to hit anyone. I'd rather be hit by a bike while walking, than either hit a person on a bike with my car or be hit by a car on my bike. Honestly don't care much about that 'law' anyway, nobody enforces it and it is a stupid law.

that's just pure stupidity. sorry, but it is.
i bike and drive. so i see it from both sides.
i think bikers are much, much worse than drivers. more guilty in being unpredictable and breaking most biking/traffic rules.
as a driver, you don't want the unpredictability of making a right-hand turn, looking for pedestrians, and then having a bike come out quickly from a sidewalk. even 10-15 km/hr on a sidewalk is unpredictable, and cities like toronto, where there are bus shelters, garbage bins, etc, the bike can come from out of nowhere.

when i bike on the street, i'm hugging the curb. maybe 1 ft from the curb so i'm taking up maybe 2 to 2.5 ft of the street. i laugh as cars slow down or can't figure out how to go around me. um, the lane fits me and you. just move towards that dotted line and you're fine.

i've been in 2 bike accidents. both were on toronto paved trails. one involved me flipping over my handlebars because an idiot biker got off her bike in front of me and blocked the entire trail. broke my clavicle. fun. the other involved a pedestrian walking on the bike lane (hey, those bikers that walk on the pedestrian's sidewalk: this is how it feels for someone to be in YOUR lane), me going around him, and him deciding to put his shoulder in me for no ****ing reason and knocking me off my bike. fun.

bikers should just follow the rules. no sidewalk. no weaving. no riding through crosswalks. stop at red lights. signal. don't use a crosswalk to make a left turn. if that happened, then lots of problems would be solved.

on saturday, i got into a fight with a driver. dude ran a stop sign and almost hit me. i had the right of way (i was on a thorough street and he wasn't looking at oncoming traffic). as i pedaled by, he rolled down his window. thought he was apologizing. no. he was telling me that he had the right of way. we got into a heated discussion and he ended up literally driving behind me, flooring his truck, trying to knock me off my bike. i was hoping on the sidewalk, cutting down alleys, etc, trying to shake him. finally lost him. i don't know if he wanted to kill me or just scare me, but that's a pure lunatic move. road rage.

 

[DRC]

You better tell to get more beers

Lol will do. It really wasn't that bad. I renovated a log house on Gabriola island a few winters back. That crawl space was something nightmares are made from.

 

[Afterburner]

I'm just in love with the fact that this thread is called Winds of Winter.
Except now I miss Game of Thrones. Le sigh.

 

[DRC]

I'm just in love with the fact that this thread is called Winds of Winter.
Except now I miss Game of Thrones. Le sigh.

You can always watch it over again!!!

 

[Afterburner]

You can always watch it over again!!!

Oh I have and I will. That is all the win for MB Winter.

 

[sully1410]

Oh I have and I will. That is all the win for MB Winter.

In the mean time. ..watch Stranger a things?

 

[SensibleGuy]

All I ask of bikers is that they acknowledge the fact that they are very highly likely to come out on the losing end of any incident involving their bodies and my car and that they act accordingly based on that reality. In other words, don't ride your frikkin bike as though I have to (or even can) make way for you under any and all circumstances. I really don't care what the law says about your "right of way" and what not. You can lie there in your coffin with a smug grin on your face about the fact that you had the right of way if you want to. If you are parked at a red light right smack in my blind spot don't just assume I see you before I make my right turn. If it's blizzarding out, stay the frik off the roads - I don't care how fat your awesome new mountain bike tires are. Oh, and I know it looks really wicked cool when you ride hands-free but when I'm trying to squeeze past you while avoiding gaping potholes and on-coming traffic how bout you just not worry about lookin cool for a few seconds!

 

[lomiller1]

I disagree completely. All cyclists should be on sidewalks (except maybe right downtown where they have bike routes). Cyclists on the road are very very dangerous. And I look at it like this. If a car hits a cyclist, cyclist is likely dead. Cyclist hits a pedestrian you have maybe some scraps and bruises. Far safer away from roads.

A car going the speed limit will travel ~50-70% faster than a cyclist. A cyclist will travel 500% - 700% faster than a pedestrian. Foot traffic is also really unstructured; people wander all over the sidewalk and don’t necessarily give you a predictable way to pass them. If a pedestrian swerves in front of you at the last second and you hit them at 35Km/h someone is getting hurt.

Re Bikes:

What I want to see...

If the taxpayers are going to spend money building you a bike path then you better damn well use it. Busy street, cars doing 60 or more, a bike path 3 meters from the road, and some a-hole on his bike is on the street holding up traffic...

There are some good reasons why cyclists are not required to travel in bike lanes. There are still obstacles and road hazards in bike planes you need to go around and you have to change lanes to do a left hand turn.

 

[HannuJ]

In the mean time. ..watch Stranger a things?

is that the Italian version?

"Be a'careful, Pepe! There are a'stranger a'things outta there! mamma mia!!"

 

[lomiller1]

Don't really like riding on sidewalks though I usually cross the Main Street bridge there, largely because the river walk under Main is nearly constantly flooded this year. But only going back out of downtown, there may be a cycling lane on Main heading southbound out of downtown but it's completely nuts between Broadway and Stradbrook any time of day.

It’s a diamond lane (Bikes, busses and cars making a rt hand turn at the next intersection) and there is a wide shoulder on the bridge most cyclists prefer to use.

The problem is that the lane itself turns right at stradbrook, so if you are going straight you need to either cut across the traffic in that lane or move to the left side of the lane or the right side of the next lane over. It’s legal, safe there is even room for traffic to get by as needed, but every once in a while you get some idiot road raging because it doesn’t occur to them that it isn’t safe for cyclists trying to go straight to be on the right hand side of traffic turning right.

I think the sidewalk across the bridge is designated multi-use as it connects the bike path along the railroad tracts to the bike lanes downtown and going North there is some bike specific signage.

 

[sully1410]

is that the Italian version?

"Be a'careful, Pepe! There are a'stranger a'things outta there! mamma mia!!"

Fugget about it.