[steveintoronto]

That and having to wait for drivers who fail at parallel parking.

I've noticed this more and more of late. Part of that is an aging population for whom spacial awareness becomes lacking, but I also see many Yuppies completely inept at parallel parking. How did they get their licences?

I try to be patient, impatience is a recipe for crisis, but man....it tries me sometimes. Meantime there's still the cohort of loony cyclists wearing helmets with absolutely nothing inside who go swerving around them, even as I wait correctly, until the lane is clear to proceed.

The more time I spend city cycling (as opposed to distance on the trails) the more I see idiotic cycling that we all have to pay the price for. I try to be cool, but sometimes the idiots have to be yelled at. No shortage of idiot drivers or cyclists. Lack of protocol is going to sink us all.

 

[Northern Light]

I don't see Bellamy in the 2016 implementation plan. And this year Woodbine will only get bike lanes north of Danforth and south of Kingston Rd, whereas the 10 year bike plan proposes a bike lane along the entirety of Woodbine.

I'm sure I saw it listed somewhere last year; but perhaps I'm mistaken.

Though, I do recall this was proposed several years ago, in the ward of Councillor De Baeremaeker and yet never happened then.

What concerns me is the propensity for delay, in the time it has taken Toronto deliver a few dozen km of bike lanes, other city's have managed an order of magnitude more, typically at much lower cost.

I'd also love to know where all that cycling money ends up every year, seeing as they almost always deliver only a small fraction of what they propose.

I was hoping that would all change w/Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati's appointment.

We're not off to a flying start.

 

[Northern Light]

You mean you prefer the setup where 'floating' parking is what separates bikes from moving cars?

Yes, but that's not specifically what I was meaning.

I was thinking of Jones avenue, say, which had been 4 lanes, nominally, but with parking at all times in the curb, except in rush hours.

Post-bike lanes, its a 2-lane road, with parking at all times, and bike lanes.

The different configuration supports more turning lanes, and smoother traffic flow as through traffic no longer tries to squeeze into the curb lane, only to be cut-off.

 

[Skeezix]

[...] I also see many Yuppies completely inept at parallel parking. How did they get their licences? [...]

Could it be people raised in the suburbs increasingly choosing to live in the central city?

My friend is convinced that people raised in the city can generally parallel park (because they had to), while people raised in the suburbs generally cannot (because, once their driving test was done, they rarely had to). While in cars with others driving over the years, I have noticed that my friend's theory is usually on the money (with some exceptions, of course).

 

[the lemur]

Yes, but that's not specifically what I was meaning.

I was thinking of Jones avenue, say, which had been 4 lanes, nominally, but with parking at all times in the curb, except in rush hours.

Post-bike lanes, its a 2-lane road, with parking at all times, and bike lanes.

The different configuration supports more turning lanes, and smoother traffic flow as through traffic no longer tries to squeeze into the curb lane, only to be cut-off.

I had to look Jones up on Google Maps since I don't get out that way much. It looks like the same situation as Beverley: wide curb lane for parking + bikes, still a bit of a door zone. I think Bloor is mostly wide enough to allow parking to function as the bike lane separator some of the time.

 

[the lemur]

Could it be people raised in the suburbs increasingly choosing to live in the central city?

My friend is convinced that people raised in the city can generally parallel park (because they had to), while people raised in the suburbs generally cannot (because, once their driving test was done, they rarely had to). While in cars with others driving over the years, I have noticed that my friend's theory is usually on the money (with some exceptions, of course).

That sounds about right. In the suburbs you're never far from a big parking lot and if you do have to park on the street you can almost always just pull up behind a car that's already there or swoop in in front of it.

 

[Admiral Beez]

That sounds about right. In the suburbs you're never far from a big parking lot and if you do have to park on the street you can almost always just pull up behind a car that's already there or swoop in in front of it.

When I lived in Fredericton, NB driving was a daily frustration. No one can drive, no one can park properly, no one knows to go on an advanced green, and they don't respect each other's right of way, meaning they'll stop traffic to let in other cars outside of their right, or most dangerously stop their car to let someone cross the road. When I lived there I recall a pedestrian was killed when the car in the right lane stopped and the car in the left lane kept going.

 

[andrewpmk]

Toronto Police OPS ‏@TPSOperations
Police responding to a cyclist struck. Adelaide St W/Simcoe St. Details to come. Follow @TrafficServices ^js

Both roads have bike lanes. So much for bike lanes improving safety.

The problem with bike lanes (regardless of whether they are separated) is they do not eliminate intersections, which is where most accidents happen.

 

[W. K. Lis]

See link.

 

[ADRM]

Toronto Police OPS ‏@TPSOperations
Police responding to a cyclist struck. Adelaide St W/Simcoe St. Details to come. Follow @TrafficServices ^js

Both roads have bike lanes. So much for bike lanes improving safety.

The problem with bike lanes (regardless of whether they are separated) is they do not eliminate intersections, which is where most accidents happen.

Bike lanes incontrovertibly improve safety. As you correctly later identified, the design of these particular intersections are awful from a cycle safety standpoint, but that has nothing to do with the bike lanes themselves.

There are lots of different intersection designs around the world from which to draw if Toronto ever gets serious about spending on infrastructure that would improve cycle safety more broadly.

 

[LNahid2000]

Toronto Police OPS ‏@TPSOperations
Police responding to a cyclist struck. Adelaide St W/Simcoe St. Details to come. Follow @TrafficServices ^js

Both roads have bike lanes. So much for bike lanes improving safety.

The problem with bike lanes (regardless of whether they are separated) is they do not eliminate intersections, which is where most accidents happen.

Who said bike lanes would eliminate all collisions? Could you use some stats for your arguments rather than just search Twitter and posting random incidents?

 

[salsa]

Yup, the city seems to have a phobia for pedestrian bridges. They have only one major highway crossing proposed, and its a minor trail tunnel under the 401. That tunnel is going to be very dark and ugly, I think, given the width of the 401.

I think a lot of it comes from how a single pedestrian bridge can cost an entire year's budget. They need special funding injections for them from the feds or elsewhere, like many of the larger scale bike projects.

Yes I'm pretty sure cost is the main reason here. I hope the next bike plan will do more to address the lack of crossings over major barriers once we fully build out all of the current priorities. Speaking of barriers, this is just another reason why I'm so glad that Toronto didn't build all those expressways that would have crisscrossed the whole city.

 

[the lemur]

Toronto Police OPS ‏@TPSOperations
Police responding to a cyclist struck. Adelaide St W/Simcoe St. Details to come. Follow @TrafficServices ^js

Both roads have bike lanes. So much for bike lanes improving safety.

The problem with bike lanes (regardless of whether they are separated) is they do not eliminate intersections, which is where most accidents happen.

Sigh.

Adelaide's bike lane is not entirely separated - THAT is the main problem. When you turn from Adelaide onto Simcoe the bike lane is unprotected at the corner and there is nothing to prevent a driver using part of the bike lane to make a turn and thereby right-hook a cyclist.

And no, of course bike lanes don't 'eliminate intersections'. I can't believe anyone would be disingenuous or dense enough to think that's the point. There are, however, ways of designing intersections to reduce/eliminate conflict between lanes.

 

[the lemur]

Toronto Police OPS ‏@TPSOperations
Police responding to a cyclist struck. Adelaide St W/Simcoe St. Details to come. Follow @TrafficServices ^js

Both roads have bike lanes. So much for bike lanes improving safety.

The problem with bike lanes (regardless of whether they are separated) is they do not eliminate intersections, which is where most accidents happen.

The problem with roads is that they do nothing to prevent collisions between cars and buildings, regardless of how sturdy the building is. So much for roads improving safety.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The problem with roads is that they do nothing to prevent collisions between cars and buildings, regardless of how sturdy the building is. So much for roads improving safety.

But my GPS told me to turn here!!