Vancouver Sun Don Cayo September 29, 2010
Vancouver drivers’ biggest beef with cyclists seems to be that too many are scofflaws who are hardly ever held accountable for what they do or don’t do on the road. I take their point. Few statistics are kept, but anecdotal evidence abounds.
Cycling infractions — zooming onto a sidewalk, even a crowded one, or drifting through red lights or stop signs — seem to me to be roughly as common as car drivers who habitually speed. In other words, it may be unfair to blame them all, but I see plenty of bad eggs everywhere. So, while I stand by my weekend analysis in The Vancouver Sun showing no credible case for charging cyclists more to ride the roads — or even for their new exclusive bike lanes — there may still be a case for licensing them. It could be a long overdue tool to hold offenders accountable. Steve Martin, the province’s superintendent of motor vehicles, has reservations about licensing cyclists. He questions whether it’s smart to put roadblocks in the way of a transportation mode that city governments are trying to foster. But it seems to me that, to the extent these efforts to foster cycling succeed, the problem will get worse, not better.
Vancouver city police did not have statistics, but Const. Greg Perry told me they do get called to periodic serious incidents — mostly bike-pavement or bike-car mishaps, but also bike-bike, Bike-pedestrian and even bike-building crashes.Police also get calls about such events but arrive to find that everyone — rider, driver and any witnesses — has left.
ICBC keeps stats only on bike collisions that also involve cars and are reported and investigated, but I found the numbers revealing. In 1,200 such accidents last year — down slightly from the five-year average — the car drivers were found solely responsible for just over half, not liable at all for 350, and partly liable for the rest. ICBC didn’t keep figures on the liability of the cyclists, but it’s reasonable to infer that, in most cases, the rider was generally responsible for the portion of any accident that wasn’t the driver’s fault. (more)
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Vancouver drivers’ biggest beef with cyclists seems to be that too many are scofflaws who are hardly ever held accountable for what they do or don’t do on the road. I take their point. Few statistics are kept, but anecdotal evidence abounds.
Cycling infractions — zooming onto a sidewalk, even a crowded one, or drifting through red lights or stop signs — seem to me to be roughly as common as car drivers who habitually speed. In other words, it may be unfair to blame them all, but I see plenty of bad eggs everywhere. So, while I stand by my weekend analysis in The Vancouver Sun showing no credible case for charging cyclists more to ride the roads — or even for their new exclusive bike lanes — there may still be a case for licensing them. It could be a long overdue tool to hold offenders accountable. Steve Martin, the province’s superintendent of motor vehicles, has reservations about licensing cyclists. He questions whether it’s smart to put roadblocks in the way of a transportation mode that city governments are trying to foster. But it seems to me that, to the extent these efforts to foster cycling succeed, the problem will get worse, not better.
Vancouver city police did not have statistics, but Const. Greg Perry told me they do get called to periodic serious incidents — mostly bike-pavement or bike-car mishaps, but also bike-bike, Bike-pedestrian and even bike-building crashes.Police also get calls about such events but arrive to find that everyone — rider, driver and any witnesses — has left.
ICBC keeps stats only on bike collisions that also involve cars and are reported and investigated, but I found the numbers revealing. In 1,200 such accidents last year — down slightly from the five-year average — the car drivers were found solely responsible for just over half, not liable at all for 350, and partly liable for the rest. ICBC didn’t keep figures on the liability of the cyclists, but it’s reasonable to infer that, in most cases, the rider was generally responsible for the portion of any accident that wasn’t the driver’s fault. (more)
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