bike safety

With a heavy heart I have to report that another cyclist was killed today on Toronto's streets. This time a seven year old girl ... in Scarborough. Very close to where I went to high school. CityTV did this news story. She was on a crosswalk riding her bike. Not a busy street. The driver simply failed to see her, which boggles the mind.

So I've had Tino's copy of Richard Ballantine's soon to be released "City Cycling" for a week and a day now, just long enough to furrow the collective brow of the iBikeTO bloggers, who can't wait to get their SynLube

A 16-year-old Toronto teenager tells the National Post about her harrowing experience trying to commute to her summer job...by bike.

In her story, she asks the eternal question: Usually — and generously — cyclists move to the side of the road to allow faster moving vehicles to pass.

And now from my favorite MP, some bike safety tips.

It makes me warm inside that Olivia is presenting bike tax petitions in Parliament and that she rides her bike to Parliament Hill - as I found out on my trip to Ottawa when I came across a familiar bike, an oasis in a car-dominated city.

This is the text of an email I sent to the City of Mississauga and Mississauga Transit this morning. I also phoned their customer service line and spoke to a very friendly and helpful person there.

Please pass this email on to the appropriate people within the City and Mississauga Transit. I will also follow up with a phone call.

I first met Mr. Bike a.k.a. Chicago's legendary Dave Glowacz a few years ago during Bike Week. He simply showed up in Toronto to check out what ARC and others were up to during Bike Week. We talked for awhile at CBN's Parking Meter Party. I instantly liked him. Passionate, intelligent and insightful.

He has written several great book on cycling in urban areas like Urban Bikers' Tips and Tricks

I tend to waffle between asking for dedicated and separated facilities for cyclists and for keeping cyclists on the roadway (with some white stripes painted here and there). A new movement is spreading from its birth in the north of The Netherlands (those crazy, soggy Frieslanders) with the radical idea of Naked Streets (or Shared Space). The Dutch traffic engineer, Hans Monderman with the idea.

Bike Lane Parking

Yesterday, Toronto Police Services issued this Press Release:

Safe Cycling: Share the Responsibility

A lot of words and concepts have been thrown around in the interesting Lansdowne reconstruction debate that we've had here and here. I hope to clear up what I think are some of the misconceptions and misrepresentations.