bike safety

If a motorist hits a cyclist, they often try to excuse themselves by claiming they "didn't see" the cyclist.

Pedestrians and bicyclists have ended up in more crashes with quiet hybrid cars than with typical vehicles with noisy internal combustion engines (ICE). The new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, titled "Incidence of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Crashes by Hybrid Electric Passenger Vehicles", studied crashes between pedestrians/cyclists and vehicles finding that the lack of noise for new hybrids was linked to an increase in crashes.

There was a lot of trash talk about the supposed 'War on the Car' this year. There will be more next year I am sure. Last time I checked it was you and me and dare I say even those who drive
who suffer the effects of car culture, or shall we say, high-carbon consumer capitalism. So get ready for the next stage when car drivers fight back against bike lanes. You know it's coming.

The first ghost bike in Mississauga, as far as I know, was installed by ARC this morning at the corner of Riverspray Crescent. and Bloor Street. On November 25, a cyclist was killed on his way home from the beer store. I went along for the ride this morning to pay my respects to the fallen cyclist and document the work of installing a ghost bike. His name has not been released.

News story:

Wayne Scott, ex-courier and ex-cycling ambassador, fought and won an eighteen year battle with Revenue Canada over counting courier food as tax deductible fuel. Now he is taking on the City of Toronto to have the Ontario Labour Relations Board to declare Toronto's city streets as safety hazards. Since the same employer that employed him as a Cycling Ambassador in 2005 is also responsible for the state of our streets, Scott figured he had a good case.

Catherine Porter of the Star has a bunch of the "Thank You" cards for drivers, a campaign by the Toronto Cyclists Union, but she's having a hard time giving them out. It seems like she's more determined that I.

In the lefty news site Straight Goods, our favourite cycling lawyer, Albert Koehl, weighs in on the lethal cost of automobiles. You may also know Koehl from helping to push the cycling agenda with the province, perhaps one reason why the provincial Environmental Commissioner mentioned Toronto's slow pace of bike lanes.