Cycling Dangers

Cycling Dangers:

This past week, I had an article sent to me from Sudbury. I’ve lived in Sudbury the past two years, was getting pretty involved in the community, and used my bicycle to get around. So any cycling news that comes out of that city is of interest to me, even though I’m no longer there.  You can read the article in the Sudbury Star here: http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2737379 .

For those of you unfamiliar with Sudbury, Long Lake Road is in the “South End”, also commonly known with jealous derision as “the rich end” of the city. That gives you an idea of the kind of demographics, the housing, and the shopping to expect in that area. Recently they’ve also added a new “super” Walmart on Long Lake Rd.

I used to work at a place called South Ridge Mall, which requires me to ride along Long Lake Rd, and Paris St (same street, just changes names at a set of lights). As a result, I biked along that stretch a lot. Now, on my first couple of bike ride, I followed the rules of the road. I was almost hit by motorists a few dozen times. What stopped me from getting hit? Open ears, open eyes, and paranoia leading to a complete inability to only look ahead of me.

Cycling in Sudbury, while following the law, I quickly considered a form of suicide. I’ve biked in four cities so far: Timmins/Porcupine, North Bay, Sudbury, and Ottawa/Nepean. Only one of those cities considers cycling “normal”, and that’s Ottawa where they have cycling lanes. North Bay is the next best, as they do have a few small areas with cycling lanes and even have some cycling trails here and there. Timmins is the most cycling remote of these areas, as most drivers have probably never even seen someone cycling on the road. As a result, they give cyclists a wide berth, which is just fine to me (though I could have done without the honking and yelling). One thing Timmins has is a lot of hiking/cycling trails. They’re rough, but that’s why I own a mountain bike.

The only city I’ve biked in where I had a fear for my life was Sudbury.

It’s not that cycling is foreign to Sudbury. There’s a couple of cycling lanes in areas that no one ever goes, on streets that lead nowhere. There’s a couple of biking groups that are trying to push the city into creating cycling lanes and the like (most notably the Sudbury Cyclists Union and the Sudbury Cycling Club). A big part of the problem are the motorists in Sudbury. We deservedly had a candidate on Canada’s Worst Drivers (and we could probably have fielded a lot more).

As a result, to preserve life and limb, when cycling in Sudbury, I broke the law. No one walks in Sudbury. If the corner store is 2 minutes away by car, of 5 minutes by foot, they’ll take the car, even if it takes 5+ minutes to find a parking spot. As a result, the sidewalks are mostly empty, most of the time. And since almost all of my cycling was done during morning rush hour, noon rush hour, dinner rush hour, or late at night, that means I had the sidewalk to myself.

Cycling on the sidewalk is illegal. I want to make that clear. So is suicide. So, the question that came to me was which law to break, the one that kept me alive, or the one that left me dead. I like life, so I broke that set of laws instead, and I don’t regret it. I wish I could have followed the laws up in Sudbury, but it was not feasible. Not with their drivers, their driving attitude, and the layout of their streets.

The catch with using a sidewalk is you must be more aware of driveways, pedestrians, and crosswalks. You have to stop at the end of every block and look both ways, as though you were a pedestrian yourself. You cannot ramp yourself up to top speed, because you need to be actively aware of the pedestrians around you. I once had to get off my bike and walk around a large loitering group of police officers. Once past them, I could get back on my bike and go. Not one said anything about my cycling on the sidewalk. As far as the cops in Sudbury are concerned, I was right where I was supposed to be (especially with all the construction).

So, during this “Share the Road” ride that they’ve now run for two years, I have to wonder if it’ll make the third year, or if the cyclists of Sudbury will come to the same choice I inevitable faced, about which law to break. The cyclist in the article is going to be OK, he only had a broken arm and was shaken by the incident. I hope it doesn’t keep him from riding in the future. But I do hope this has some effect on the motorists of Sudbury. Perhaps something good can come of it.  But that might be hoping for a bit too much.

I’m not saying all motorists in Sudbury are the problem. A lot of them are actually good drivers. They have to be in order to manage to survive on a road with all the horrid drivers. What I am saying is that there’s a major lack of education about cyclists in Sudbury, even more than in other areas of Ontario, and as a result, drivers are aggressive when they see someone using “their” space for a bicycle.

Maybe I’ll do a primer on cycling safety next week. Hand signals, what parts to have on your bike, that sort of thing. Or possibly on cycling laws in Ontario (and the special laws for Sudbury, North Bay, Ottawa, and Timmins). Maybe.

Edit (Sep 7/2010): One of my friends up in Sudbury forwarded me a follow-up letter that was sent to the Sudbury Star. The letter is written by David Kershaw, an local Olympic Nordic skiier. It further talks about the same sort of hazards that I had to deal with while in the city, and brings up other Northern Ontario municipalities and the different approaches they took toward cycling. Reading the letter: http://www.sudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2745601

This week’s run-down:

Sunday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Terminal, Terminal to Train Yard Mall & return trip. Total time: 8 mins. 3.4 km. Daily Average 25.5 km/hr.

Monday: Alta Vista/Industrial along Alta Vista to Heron, Heron to Navaho, Navaho to Algonquin College. 47 minutes, 13 km. Algonquin College to Navaho, Navaho to Baseline, Baseline to Alta Vista, Alta Vista to Alta Vista/Industrial. 45 minutes, 13 km. Daily average 17 km/hr.

Tuesday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Russell, Russell to Smyth, Smyth to BMO. BMO to Smyth, Smyth to Cuba, Cuba to Russell, Russell to Coronation, Coronation to Rolland, Rolland to Alta Vista/Industrial. 7.6 km. 24 minutes. 19 km/hr

Wednesday: Was lazy. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Thursday: Alta Vista/Industrial to Terminal, Terminal to Train Yard Mall & return trip. Total time: 8 mins. 3.4 km. Daily Average 25.5 km/hr.

Friday: Was lazy. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Saturday:  Weather warned me off. Should have fought the weather. 0 km. 0 km/hr

Average Daily Distance:  5.8 km

Average Speed: 18.4 km/hr

Average Weekly Distance: 40.4 km (last week’s data incomplete, so starting here)

Average Cumulative Speed: 18.4 km/hr