Barrie Ontario: 'Yes, you can get a ticket,' Cyclists slapped with hefty fine for blowing through stop sign
Barrie Ontario: 'Yes, you can get a ticket,' Cyclists slapped with hefty fine for blowing through stop sign
Several cyclists in Caledon received hefty fines for disregarding a stop sign in a community safety zone.
As a cyclist, I've seen more motorists blow through stop signs than other cyclists, and they are the ones who can kill someone.
Idaho Stops need to come to Canada. Not only have they been proven to be safer, but it makes sense in a dozen different ways.
I've sat at red lights (as a cyclist) and the light DOES NOT CHANGE unless a car is waiting at that same light. We're talking 10+ minutes. Who the hell thinks it's OK for cyclists to have to sit there indefinitely when no other cars are around, just because of some outdated laws? We need to change with the times!
Cars and bicycles are two completely different things, and should have different rules governing them. A car is larger, deadlier, and takes longer to stop than a bicycle. A car going 40-50 kph is traveling with far more force, and won't be able to stop as fast as a bicycle traveling 20 kph.
It's like saying cars and planes should follow the same rules. Or even better, cars and semi trucks. There are highway speed signs that state one speed for trucks and one for everyone else. Or certain roads where trucks aren't allowed to drive on. We already have a tiered approach to motor vehicles, it should extend to bikes as well. Blanket approaches don't work in our modern world when we have cars, bikes, ebikes, escooters, etc all sharing the same space.
Folks, I think with this wholesome standard-fare cars vs bikes who-dun-it rant fest, we've really arrived on Lemmy. I feel home. Thank you. ♥️
This is inherently the problem with (most) cyclists, and why motorists in general don't like them.
They want it both ways. They want to be a pedestrian when it suits them, when they want to blow stop signs, jump up onto the sidewalk, expect cars to stop for them at crosswalks, and weave through traffic at will. But they ALSO want to be a vehicle when it suits them, when they are sharing a road that doesn't have a bike lane, for example.
And they seem to think that the motorist should just KNOW when they are being one or the other.
It's frustrating and annoying. They are a vehicle. They are governed as a vehicle. Suck it up, cyclists.
Everyone stops at a stop sign. Cars, buses, pedestrians, motorized wheelchairs, and bikes. This is not an issue that needs separate rules for cyclists. Perhaps they can re-evaluate that intersection, does it need a sign? If cyclists can easily coast through the intersection, the need for a stop sign is up for discussion. Perhaps a Yield sign.
My area has lights for intersections with more than 2 lanes per direction of travel, roundabouts for smaller busy roads, and most of the residential intersections don’t have signage. Stop signs are, mostly, used to slow traffic down.
This coming from a city which made being homeless illegal, doesn't surprise me.
And yes, cyclists SHOULD be respectful.
The thing is if you're going to be sharing the road with other vehicles, you need to ride predictably and communicate with other drivers/riders or you're just more likely to get yourself killed. Deciding to ignore a Stop sign is not predictable behaviour.
I understand the need to obey traffic laws on a bicycle, but treating them the same as a 2+ ton projectile that can turn humans into meat paste or cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage to a structure in seconds by effortlessly adjusting your right ankle by 25° is absurd.
Fines should be proportional to the potential damage of the Infraction.