2302 replies to this topic

[Star Dust]

I already have a driver's licence for cars and motorcycles - now I have to get another one for a bicycle? How much do you figure this added layer of bureaucracy is going to cost?  What happens if I just stick to bike lanes and non-main roads - do I still need a licence then?

Insurance?! I'd be interested in seeing a study on the amount of damage and injury done by cyclists to cars, compared to the reverse. Where's the great number of accidents caused by rogue cyclists?? - 'cos the way you bike-haters go on, there's carnage out there on the roads every day, and it's all caused by cyclists.  Except that there isn't - most accidents are car-on-car and the vast majority of costs are a resut of that.  Notice the way that insurance costs have risen over the last several years - thank (y)our fellow drivers and their piss-poor driving habits for that - not cyclists.

I am not a "bike-hater" . I actually used to be quite an avid cyclist, but I also drive a vehicle and because of that I understand it and get it from both a driver of a vehicle and  rider of a bike. I don't  have the stats, but it is for sure that bicycles are involved with many, many accidents in BC every year, usually at the receiving end....but also quite often it is the bike rider that Caused the accident and not the driver of the vehicle. As a driver I constantly see cyclists making huge traffic violations that are very dangerous, and you can tell when you look at them after they do it...that they really had no idea that they did anything wrong. And that is because they have never held a driver's license and have never had to study the rules of the road, and simply have no clue that they just did something illegal and careless. Yet I seen it almost every day when I drive around Victoria. Cyclists running red lights, cyclists making turning violations, cyclists riding side by side on main streets instead of in single file, and even cyclists riding in the middle of the road when their is a bike lane on the side. I have seen cyclists smash into cars when they are not looking and then attack the car ripping off it's mirrors etc. The Things I have seen cyclists do in Victoria is insane.

 

And this is why it is essential that cyclists be licensed and insured.

[VicHockeyFan]

Ya you do not want to be giving bike tests to 9 year olds.

[laconic]

We should license pedestrians too. Lately far too many of them have been walking into marked crosswalks and getting hit by cars.

[Cats4Hire]

We should license pedestrians too. Lately far too many of them have been walking into marked crosswalks and getting hit by cars.

I feel one admits their argument is weak when they completely ignore all points someone made and latch on to something vaguely related in order to make their point look stupid. Either way pedestrians ARE taught proper rules of the rood. In Kindergarten and Grade 1 my class went on walks around the neighborhood and we certainly were shown how to properly walk single file on the sidewalk (especially if there was someone else wanting to pass us) or cross at marked crosswalks when it was safe. All through elementary school (and maybe middle?) we did tennis lessons at one of the parks during PE and that also required walking from school to the park and if we did anything dangerous or broke any laws I'm sure the teachers told us.

 

The only bike thing I can think of in school was an optional thing were they set up cones on the basketball court and we rode around them. There was no rules being taught more so just how to ride a bike.

 

I think if they do require cyclists to be licensed you should have an option. Either a separate license like motorbikes/cars or an add-on for maybe an extra $1 every time you renew your license. Both would still require a test but I see the same things as Star Dust (although I've never seen a cyclist rage at a parked car I have seen them run into them) so I can't say it would be a bad idea. The only problem I can think of is kids. Maybe allow the license to be gotten young and be really cheap until you turn 16? Or allow those who stay in bike lanes to not be licensed? I don't know how to go about that.

[mbjj]

I think in the 1960s a safety officer or policeman came to our school to administer lessons and tests on bicycle riding. I'm in favour of some sort of licensing or whatever for cyclists who don't have a driver's licence.

[sebberry]

Ya you do not want to be giving bike tests to 9 year olds.

 

Learners stage.  You give the tests to the 16 year olds. 

[VicHockeyFan]

I don't think most cyclists do not know how to ride, and obey the rules.  It's just that a few of them choose to ignore or bend the rules.  Some worse than others.  But it's not exactly creating mayhem on the streets.

[Mike K.]

Not at the levels of cycling today. But the city wants to raise cycling as a share of commuting from its present day 7% or so to over 20%.

[VicHockeyFan]

Not at the levels of cycling today. But the city wants to raise cycling as a share of commuting from its present day 7% or so to over 20%.

 

Not.

 

Gonna.

 

Happen.

 

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 20 January 2018 - 10:07 AM.

[rjag]

Sure it will, its not the Carrot but the Stick approach, close enough roads, create enough congestion, increase fuel costs and make it as frustrating as possible for folks to go about their daily business and voila! folks will seek out alternative methods such as cycling. Nobody said anything about a happiness quotient....  

[nagel]

It’s actually 11.1% in the CoV. CRD number was the 6.6. Some census tracts around Fernwood and Fairfield are already at almost 20%.

[sdwright.vic]

Key word "some census" (meaning the census that feeds your point of view, which anyone can find)

[rjag]

It’s actually 11.1% in the CoV. CRD number was the 6.6. Some census tracts around Fernwood and Fairfield are already at almost 20%.

 

That 20% keeps coming up yet we dont see 1 in 5 folks on bikes either at commuting time or even on a weekend. Go to Cook St Village on a Saturday afternoon, its not like you trip over parked bikes...one thing to rely on that data, another to not observe it....something doesnt add up

[Coreyburger]

Key word "some census" (meaning the census that feeds your point of view, which anyone can find)

 

Here is the 2016 bike to work data helpfully mapped out: https://censusmapper....4902/-123.4544

[Coreyburger]

That 20% keeps coming up yet we dont see 1 in 5 folks on bikes either at commuting time or even on a weekend. Go to Cook St Village on a Saturday afternoon, its not like you trip over parked bikes...one thing to rely on that data, another to not observe it....something doesnt add up

 

Where are you looking? Not everybody who lives in Fairfield works downtown - they may work in Oak Bay, UVic, south Saanich or elsewhere

[rjag]

Foul Bay at Fairfield to Cook at Fairfield, Cook at Dallas, Richardson, Moss, Dallas, Oak Bay Ave etc. I walk/drive these areas on a very regular basis at varying times from 7:30 am to 8:30pm. Sure I see bikes, its great, kids riding to school, UVic Camosun students etc...but unless theres secret tunnels not seeing 1 in 5 citizens riding. 

[North Shore]

 bg6tgttg

I don't  have the stats, but it is for sure that bicycles are involved with many, many accidents in BC every year, usually at the receiving end....but also quite often it is the bike rider that Caused the accident and not the driver of the vehicle. 

 

Source?  Or is that just how you feel?  Ever heard of confirmation bias?

 

 Yet I seen it almost every day when I drive around Victoria. Cyclists running red lights, cyclists making turning violations, cyclists riding side by side on main streets instead of in single file, and even cyclists riding in the middle of the road when their is a bike lane on the side. I have seen cyclists smash into cars when they are not looking and then attack the car ripping off it's mirrors etc. The Things I have seen cyclists do in Victoria is insane.

 

And this is why it is essential that cyclists be licensed and insured.

 

 

I 'seen'   the same thing every day from cars, also....speeding, failure to indicate, running red/amber lights, not stopping at stop signs, failure to yield - and yet licencing and insurance have done nothing to stop that, or even put a curb on it.  Sure, the police hand out tickets, but most of us shake our heads at the stupidity of the other driver, and continue on our merry way. 

[Mike K.]

I went for a walk this morning at around 10:30. Standing on Pandora between Cook and Vancouver it took 11 minutes for the first bicycle to pass me. That’s a heck of a long time.

[Star Dust]

 "I 'seen'   the same thing every day from cars, also....speeding, failure to indicate, running red/amber lights, not stopping at stop signs, failure to yield - and yet licencing and insurance have done nothing to stop that, or even put a curb on it.  Sure, the police hand out tickets, but most of us shake our heads at the stupidity of the other driver, and continue on our merry way."

 

 

licensing has definitely saved thousands and thousands of lives over the decades by educating the holder of the license how to drive properly.

 

Insurance IS NOT designed to "Stop" accidents or poor driving skills (as you indicated above),  but it's there to Cover Damages, injury, and loss of life.

 

As a cyclist, what makes you think that you should be exempt from insurance coverage or obtaining a license after going through testing to prove to the province that you are competent to be on the road, just as driver's of motor vehicles have to do? I am curious.  If you cause an accident while riding your bike, should you not be held responsible for that? If you violate a traffic law should you not be held responsible for that, just as drivers of automobiles are? If you fail to to obey the laws of BC while riding in a street or in traffic should you be exempt from those laws? 

 

That's what it sounds like you are trying to communicate.

Edited by Star Dust, 20 January 2018 - 04:18 PM.

[sebberry]

I went for a walk this morning at around 10:30. Standing on Pandora between Cook and Vancouver it took 11 minutes for the first bicycle to pass me. That’s a heck of a long time.

 

I rarely see more than 2 or 3 bikes on the Pandora lanes when sitting at the red waiting to turn right every morning.