I like bikes. They look healthy and clean and I remember enjoying them when I was a kid. I’ve also heard they are good for adults. I’ve even considered riding one again, but I don’t have either money or time thanks to a devastating investment I made five years ago… but I digress.
I’ve been meaning to write this rant post ever since buddy boy decided to approve the questionable bike lanes downtown Vancouver. Thankfully, my downtown coffee shop wasn’t in the line of their devastation because life is hard enough as a small business owner. But if it was, I’d be be an even more unhappy camper.
First of all, let it be known to all of you who have driver’s license that a bicycle, has all the rights of a car when they use a car lane on any road. Surprised? That’s because you missed a class in your driver’s ed course. Go back and review it. They always have had the rights and they still do. That means that if you approach a bike while you are driving you have to clear the *entire lane* when you pass. If they are left-turning, you have to wait, just as if they were a car. You have to respect them whether you like it or not. It’s the law.
So, my question from the beginning of this ‘bike lane’ fiasco was this:
If bikes have the same rights as automobiles, then why in the world are we spending money on dedicated infrastructure for them?
From this standpoint, you can imagine how frustrated I was when I saw the hurt and inconvenience these lanes caused and are still causing, especially when [get ready for it] *they are riding on the sidewalks and any ol’ place they want!*
So, after all that hard work and pain, I’m still dodging bicycles on the sidewalk and avoiding them in all the non-bike-lane roads when I’m driving my car (rare).
And so there you have it. My rant is finished. We erred greatly by not focusing our time, energy and money on educating and punishing bad automobile drivers.