Bike Safe BC

[Fancy]

Helmets don't matter, BS law.



Sidewalks need to be widened to accommodate cyclists, none of this green lane BS. We are not cars and have no reason to be on the highway with them when there is ample room in most places to have just a touch wider sidewalk.

Please provide us with some data or facts that substantiate your "Helmets don't matter" claim as everything I've ever read shows helmets do indeed matter a great deal in preventing rider injury.
The word is sidewalk not sideride, sideskate, sideboard or even sidedrive. Cyclists walking their bikes, as they are required to when in a pedestrian crosswalk are permitted to use a sidewalk because they will then be travelling at the same speed as the pedestrians who the space was built and intended for. Cyclist are indeed not cars but they are also not pedestrians either hence the recent appearance of bikelanes. Cyclists travel at a much higher rate of speed than pedestrians and should not be sharing the same space unless the cyclists are dismounted and walking while on the pedestrian sidewalk

As far as helmets are concerned, here is one link that has some statistics.

http://www.bhsi.org/stats.htm

No-one was saying helmets don't work. I was saying that it's a BS law to have forced on us. Just a money grab, like seat belts(seat belts save lives, but to have a fine enforced if we choose to not wear one is a little nanny-state ridiculous).

Everyone 15/16+ should be free to do as they chose, under there should be mandatory.

You were very specific when you said "Helmets don't matter". Regardless whether you agree with the law or not, helmets do make a difference.

[Loed]

I never said they didn't. Helmets don't matter in regard to the context of the post, IMO. They should be a moot point, left to the(mature) end user to choose.

[cv23]

No-one was saying helmets don't work. I was saying that it's a BS law to have forced on us. Just a money grab, like seat belts(seat belts save lives, but to have a fine enforced if we choose to not wear one is a little nanny-state ridiculous).

Everyone 15/16+ should be free to do as they chose, under there should be mandatory.

Actually seatbelt and helmet laws are also to reduce soaring medical costs and were mostly inanacted into laws not to just reduce personal freedoms but because "you can't fix stupid".

[Fancy]

Helmets don't matter, BS law.

Reflectors are standard on most bikes, you don't legally need to WEAR reflectors.

Sidewalks need to be widened to accommodate cyclists, none of this green lane BS. We are not cars and have no reason to be on the highway with them when there is ample room in most places to have just a touch wider sidewalk.

Crossing intersections? Meh, if they do so stupidly it is their own life. Who cares if they die.

Your post clearly states "helmets don't matter" and it's irrelevent your opinion whether it is a BS law. Helmets help reduce hospital costs.

[wthwyt]

I see a whole bunch of nested, out of context posts here, great job!
Nothing nested or out of context just complete statements you made unless you are going to now deny making them?

You've only proven my point that I never said "helmets don't save lives".
I never said you stated that. If you actually bothered to read you would see I said:
"You've told us helmets don't prevent injury even though there are multiple studies to actually prove otherwise.
I said "helmets don't matter". Big difference there.
Actually there is no difference because in both the cases of saving lives and preventing injury helmets most certainly do matter, unless as previously requested you can prove otherwise which we all know you can't

It is more safe,
Safe for who? Certainly not for the pedestrians which the sidewalks are specifically dedicated for.
I'm sorry that you don't ride a bike and cannot grasp the situation from a realistic perspective, instead choosing the text book approach of "well it works in the lab, it should work in application as well!"
How do you know if I ride a bike or not? To back my case I'm using the actual legal and fact based perspective while you are using nothing more than an "it makes me feel safer" perspective.
Guess what, no, it doesn't.
Prove it with facts please as laws are based on facts and statistics while all you are basing your assumptions on is a warm fuzzy feeling you get while breaking the law. Should "it makes me feel safer" now be the standard defense for any number of illegal activities?

I enjoy riding my bike and being alive, that you are correct about.
Yet you state "I don't care about saving lives, the less people we have around(even if that includes myself) the better. Hardly seems the words of someone who is supposedly so worried about their personal safety and concerned with self preservation does it?

The bottom line is that riding bicycles on a sidewalk (one of the OP's origional complaints) is unsafe for pedestrians and therefore illegal. You can repeat the "but it makes me feel safe" line all you want but your actions are still illegal. You obviously can not produce a single fact to back up your claim that you actually are safer just that you "feel" safer. I'm sure many of us would "feel safer" if we were allowed to carry guns or tazers when oout on the streets at night but just like you riding your bike on a sidewalk these actions are illegal and no matter how much you whine it will remain illegal.

I can see your point cv23, so riding on the streets is legal and not deadly or dangerous to the cyclist right. Every motor vehicle will fully respect the cyclist which is doing what is legal riding on the street. It must be nice to be able to were rose coloured glasses.
I am one of those pedestrians, I'd rather see cyclist on sidewalks than blood stains on the streets.

[Loed]

The bottom line is that riding bicycles on a sidewalk (one of the OP's origional complaints) is unsafe for pedestrians and therefore illegal. You can repeat the "but it makes me feel safe" line all you want but your actions are still illegal. You obviously can not produce a single fact to back up your claim that you actually are safer just that you "feel" safer. I'm sure many of us would "feel safer" if we were allowed to carry guns or tazers when oout on the streets at night but just like you riding your bike on a sidewalk these actions are illegal and no matter how much you whine it will remain illegal.

Sadly, a judge would disagree with you, or did you miss the post where-in I have gone to court over this exact situation?

Legal, sure it's not good to ride on the sidewalk, but personal safety trumps that little detail in this case.

It's also not unsafe for pedestrians, what is unsafe are the idiots that bolt along like crazy and ruin it for the rest of us. THEY are unsafe, not cycling on the sidewalk.

The reason these laws were put into place was due to high volume foot traffic finding it unsafe to have bikes in the mix, we don't have anything CLOSE to high volume foot traffic in Kelowna. The only place where we DO have that is along the water front, which*OMG* is a shared cyclist/foot path.

The funniest thing is you and fancy seem dead set on avoiding my suggested solution to the issue, instead focusing on "ohh man it's the LAW dude, obey the LAW!!".

This is a prime example of the blinders you two wear. My suggestion is a valid one, and seems to work quite well down town, so why not add another 3-4 feet of concrete and allow foot traffic and cyclists to exist as one?

As for your BS in blue, you're just nit picking at things that don't matter, I wasn't saying what you are trying to twist my words into. Sorry.

[Fancy]

This is a prime example of the blinders you two wear.

Still going strong I see. I haven't commented on your suggestions - no point as you obviously will read something else into anything I say. It seems it's your way, not the highway LOL.

[DerKaiser]

Helmets don't matter, BS law.

Reflectors are standard on most bikes, you don't legally need to WEAR reflectors.

Sidewalks need to be widened to accommodate cyclists, none of this green lane BS. We are not cars and have no reason to be on the highway with them when there is ample room in most places to have just a touch wider sidewalk.

Crossing intersections? Meh, if they do so stupidly it is their own life. Who cares if they die.

Wow! I agree!

[kgcayenne]

There's some dimwitted tool that rides on the wrong side in the bike lane down Springfield between 4:45 and 5:00 pm... no helmet. Every day I see people going the wrong way, on the sidewalk, going the wrong way AND on the sidewalk. They're so selfish and stupid that even if told that they are a huge contributor to the problem of the 'us vs them' of bikes vs cars, they wouldn't get it.

The drivers that do equally stupid things to disregard the bike lanes are also too daft to get it even if laid out for them syllable by syllable.

[tonyrippon]

I don't get it. Too many people flaunt the rules when it comes to Cycling on ours roads.
So many people ride bikes on the wrong side of the road, without lights, or high visibility clothing. I also see lots of kids doing the same thing?? This is extremely dangerous as it makes driving difficult and fraught with more hazards than one would expect from the rules of the road. It also increases the chances of collisions for the cyclist.

Some other observations of poor road safety on bikes.

Riding on Sidewalks
Riding over crosswalks
No Helmets
No Reflectors

As a cyclist and a driver of BC's roads I often wonder; Is it that there is no enforcement of the rules of the road, or is it lack of education at school age or poor coaching from parents?

http://www.bikesense.bc.ca/ch4.htm

Thanks man and give it a rest. It’s not like cyclist don’t get enough grief on this site already, here’s another crybaby post painting all cyclist with the same brush by someone claiming to be one themselves. The story is old, it’s as stupid as the people you are writing about, and it gets tiring defending those who obey. You do see there are just as many or more, bad drivers and dumb pedestrians, as there are bad riders. These people are the same lazy, I’ll do as I please, me first people you see in many avenues of life, they just use a bike to get around. But thanks just the same, now I get to waste more time bashing heads with the paint’em all the same, couldn’t get my leg over a bike seat if I tried, but let’s b about them anyways threads. Well done.

Dude, you know what? You have no idea about my background as a cyclist or as a driver or a motorcyclist. I have been cycling since I was little and now mostly go up and down mountains on a Full Suss Bike. When I'm not hairing down mountains enjoying myself I get home via the road, but I wouldn't ride towards the oncoming traffic (nuts) and I would certainly make myself visible at night. Lights (Er!) to which a lot of cyclist including kids don't.
You strike me as one of the forum guys that just likes to stir things up but have very little to say on the matter as you have resigned yourself to "Thats the way it is" mentality.

"If you always do what you always did. You will always get what you always got"

Surely implementing change and education into road safety is a good thing and usually this starts with a little discussion. (Hense my post)
I myself am looking into the Cycling Course for the kids at my local school. If that helps kids and my kids ride with awareness and make themselves seen and makes parents aware also, its worth it.
For me, its not about laying blame for who is wrong and who is good and who is bad. Its about changing people attitudes to cyclists that DO obey the rules and come down hard on those that take the P**s out of the Law.

[cv23]

As for your BS in blue, you're just nit picking at things that don't matter, I wasn't saying what you are trying to twist my words into. Sorry.

Pretty hard to "twist" actual quotes.

[cv23]

Sadly, a judge would disagree with you, or did you miss the post where-in I have gone to court over this exact situation?

BS!
If you actually had been to court and a judge had actually disagreed then you would have used did disagree so not use the wishful word "would".
Sigmond and I love these slips

[Loed]

Sadly, a judge would disagree with you, or did you miss the post where-in I have gone to court over this exact situation?

BS!
If you actually had been to court and a judge had actually disagreed then you would have used did disagree so not use the wishful word "would".
Sigmond and I love these slips

Actually, it's in context to what I was referencing when quoting you. Sorry bud, hope your having fun, I recommend a remedial english class to help you out.

Also, it's apparently easy to misinterpret my words, since you continue to do so. Have fun!

[Pookybear]

The cyclists are the ones who should do the pressuring since they are the ones breaking the law.

I have yet to see anyone get a ticket for such a ludicrous offense - but your the only one complaining about it. No pedestrian has ever told me to get off the sidewalk.

Actually the cops were cracking down on it last year. I will tell you to get off the sidewalk as I was recently hit while walking on the sidewalk on Bernard while shopping. That was my last straw with morons on bikes.

[Loed]

The cyclists are the ones who should do the pressuring since they are the ones breaking the law.

I have yet to see anyone get a ticket for such a ludicrous offense - but your the only one complaining about it. No pedestrian has ever told me to get off the sidewalk.

Actually the cops were cracking down on it last year. I will tell you to get off the sidewalk as I was recently hit while walking on the sidewalk on Bernard while shopping. That was my last straw with morons on bikes.

This I agree with, the sidewalks down town(aside from the water front walkway) are not large enough to accommodate bikes AND pedestrians. Thing is, the traffic flow is so light and low speed it is much safer to just ride on the road in this case.

When I speak of riding on the sidewalk, I'm talking about Rutland Rd, Hwy 33, Hwy 97, areas like that. They have VERY little space for bikes and it's quite dangerous for a biker.

Thing is when I am on the sidewalk I also don't wait for pedestrians to get out of the way like I see some cyclists doing, I move over for them.