Sharing the Road: How to be a Sensible Cyclist

In the June 23  issue of the Iron Warrior, I asked for advice on how I can be a safe and considerate cyclist in Waterloo. I didn’t get an overwhelming amount of emails, but those I got offered great advice. I would like to extend lots of thanks to Kevin Yeung (Civil ’13), Brandon Walderman (Software ’13) and Neil Partridge (Chemical ’11).

How do I prevent getting scraped by a big mean van?

“Drive a bike like a car. Look as far ahead as possible. Look backwards occasionally, much like checking the blind spot in a car. This way, you will have lots of warning on any sketchy situations or close calls. If that’s too much trouble, just go faster than the cars so they can’t pass you.” — Neil Partridge

Several of my cyclist friends have rear-view mirrors. You can get these for under $10 or even at Dollarama. This could be a good alternative if you are nervous about looking backwards a lot like me (I tend to swerve towards wherever I look… a terrible and dangerous habit).

Road or Sidewalk?

“As I understand it, the law in Ontario is that bikes are road vehicles. Where there’s no bike lanes around, they are entitled to share the road with “real” vehicles. I completely agree with you though that spandex-clad douchebags running red lights and so on give cyclists a bad name. There just needs to be a better understanding in general of how cycling etiquette works. Too often I see people riding the wrong way down a bike lane, or pedestrians at the University Ave. train tracks cutting in front of cyclists that have the right of way. As far as sharing the road goes, whenever I’m in a tight lane with other vehicles I just try to ride cautiously and remember that cars are probably more nervous than I am.” — Brandon Walderman

“I am both a walker and a driver when I’m in Waterloo but I also do cycle when I’m back at home in Markham (north of Toronto). As well, I have done a couple of co-op jobs focusing specifically in active and sustainable transportation including both walking and cycling.

One of the things that I learned on my co-op job is that with respect to cycling on the sidewalks, from a legal perspective, a municipal by-law might prohibit bicycle riding on sidewalks. This is certainly the case in Waterloo (see Traffic and Parking By-law #08-077). Since bicycles (with a wheel diameter over 50cm) are considered as vehicles, which cannot travel on the sidewalk, bicycles travelling are also prohibited. Now it doesn’t mean that this is enforced. As I am walking to and from campus, cyclists always zip by me on the sidewalk.

I’ll give them a bit of credit though, these cyclists are trying to stay safe. While the road network around campus actually has bike lanes dedicated for cycling use, it doesn’t mean that drivers respect them. Even more so, it seems like the cyclists themselves don’t know how to use the bike lane. More often than not, I see cyclists travelling in the opposite direction of traffic in the bike lane. And often I think that one day someone is going to be hurt either by an unsuspecting driver or cyclist travelling in the correct direction. ” — Kevin Yeung