Loving to Hate the Bike

I think it's fair to say that Canadians have a love-hate relationship with the bicycle and those who ride them. Especially now that cycling has become a "green" alternative to driving. I'm sure everyone who drives has been tempted to throw a milkshake at those spandex clad idiots who run stop signs and insist on riding down busy roads barely wide enough for car traffic. Cyclist see car drivers as a threat to their safety as many don't pay attention to small vehicles. The debate rages over who should get priority on our streets. Now that Saint Al of Gore has put the fear of anthropogenic global warming into the minds of the public, certain politicians have shown increasing hostility toward the car. Cyclists shut down Bloor St in Toronto yesterday during the rush after former Ontario Attorney-General Michal Bryant ran one over in an alleged road rage incident. It is increasingly becoming apparent that bicycles and cars cannot coexist on city streets.

Generally speaking, cyclists are the problem. As I said, they have a complete disregard for the rules of the road. They run stop signs & red lights, they do not yield to motor vehicle traffic, they ride on roads that are unsuitable for cycling, they don't signal their intent, they cut drivers off, they ride on busy sidewalks. Most cyclists don't like to admit it but few will outright deny it, opting instead to just avoid the question. I swear they must have a death wish. Who do you honestly think is going to win a battle between a car weighing in at a metric ton versus a bike that weighs 180lbs including rider?! The end result is slow downs in traffic flow and higher risk of injury and death than there needs to be. Of course drivers cannot be totally excused as many react with aggression to people on bicycles, or simply do not make themselves aware of their presence. To the first one, I think the cause of it can be blamed on cyclists no obeying the rules. The problem is that there is no clear route to punish cyclists who do break the rules. Drivers can be fined, given demerit points, have their vehicle impounded, or have their license taken away. Most of these options don't exist for people on bikes. There seems to be little will to even run safety blitzes for them as is frequently done with cars and trucks.

So what's the solution here. For many politicians, bike lanes seem to be the obvious one. What is a bike lane though? In most cases it's just a line paved down an already existing street, making it increasingly narrow for motor-vehicle traffic. It's just too expensive to widen existing roads to add them. In Toronto, which has bike lanes aplenty, most are considerably underused. You can drive down a busy street during the rush and maybe see one or two cyclists in them. The rest are weaving in and out of traffic or are riding on the sidewalk. The lanes are uneconomical for another reason, that being they can only be used six months out of the year. Vary few are loony enough to ride in the dead of winter when it's twenty below outside. So why waste that money when the road could be widened for more car traffic, or to expand transit which solves pollution issues and can be used all year round.

I think the best solution is to make cyclists pay for the roads in the same way drivers do. Currently, drivers must pay $70 annually for plate renewal, double that if you live in Toronto, to maintain roads. That means filling potholes, resurfacing, expanding the system, repairing bridges, ploughing snow, salting & sanding, and sweeping debris. Should cyclists not also be made to contribute considering that they too are using the roads? The solution would be to require bikes to be plated in the same way cars are. So if the rider is over 16 years of age, their bike would require a small, mandatory annual renewal fee of say $10 to $20, which would go directly toward road maintenance and the construction of bike lanes. For the fee they get a license plate that is attached to the back of their bike. This serves a number of uses. We generate additional revenue of course. It also allows us to track cyclists who aren't abiding by the rules of the road. See one doing something dangerous? Call the cops and given them his plate number. Enough serious infractions and they would not be able to renew their plates, thus be unable to ride their bike, just as we do with car drivers. Cyclists would benefit from this program as well, as plates would serve to curtail the serious problem of of bike theft, or at vary least increase the odds of recovery. When the cyclist takes their new bike to be plated, the make, model, colour, and serial number would be kept on file. If the bike were stolen, police could use it to easily track stolen bikes back to their proper owner. In essence, this would not punish cyclists but rather force them to be treated like any other vehicle on the road, which is what the Highway Traffic Act already stipulates. It might put the breaks on their holier than thou attitudes as well.