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Cycling in Waterloo Region
When is the UpTown Waterloo/King St. Bike lane construction set to resume/wrap up?
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As a cyclist in the region I would personally like to hear why from the Crown Attorney. Is biking in dark clothing a crime? Am I not protected under the law if a street light burns out?

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/835...o-cyclist/
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(03-27-2018, 07:44 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Is biking in dark clothing a crime?
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/835...o-cyclist/

That's not what it says.

What it does say is that the Crown was not convinced that it could secure a conviction for careless driving when the driver would have had difficulty seeing the cyclist.

Dark clothes are certainly not a crime, but cycling in the dark in dark clothes, and without lights or reflectors, does substantially increase the risk of being hit. I only walk in the dark, but I still make sure I have visible clothing, either with visible colours or with reflectors.
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(03-27-2018, 10:20 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(03-27-2018, 07:44 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Is biking in dark clothing a crime?
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/835...o-cyclist/

That's not what it says.

What it does say is that the Crown was not convinced that it could secure a conviction for careless driving when the driver would have had difficulty seeing the cyclist.

Dark clothes are certainly not a crime, but cycling in the dark in dark clothes, and without lights or reflectors, does substantially increase the risk of being hit. I only walk in the dark, but I still make sure I have visible clothing, either with visible colours or with reflectors.

Actually what it says is the defense attorney felt they would win, the Crown attorney made no statements.

And we have only the defense attorney's statements to go on as to the condition of the cyclist, and their bike, and not even the defense attorney claimed there were no lights or reflectors. Frankly, we don't know what for sure what is true...and now, I suppose we never will.

But the fact is, I am of the opinion, that if you cannot avoid hitting and killing a cyclist operating their bicycle according to the rules of the road, then you have no business operating that vehicle.  Apparently our Crown attorney is not.

This is not the first time that drivers who have killed people, who were doing nothing wrong, breaking no rules, have received no penalty for their actions.  As I said on FB, I am sickened by this result.
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In less depressing news, the King St bike Lanes appear to have no parking barriers in them now instead of parked cars (was that really so hard) so work is probably beginning soon. Ironically I saw a cyclist using them already.
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That's good. I was there yesterday to bike from the trail on up, and they were definitely filled to the brim with cars.
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Just a hypothetical thought experiment.

A rabbit bounds erratically out of a bush beside a trail, and a cyclist hits and kills it, because there was no time to react.

Who’s fault was it?

Should the cyclist bear the entire weight of the title of killing the rabbit?

Or would a more reasonable discussion perhaps take place based on physics and circumstances?
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A new advocacy group: http://cyclewr.ca/
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(03-28-2018, 11:30 AM)Canard Wrote: Just a hypothetical thought experiment.

A rabbit bounds erratically out of a bush beside a trail, and a cyclist hits and kills it, because there was no time to react.

Who’s fault was it?

Should the cyclist bear the entire weight of the title of killing the rabbit?

Or would a more reasonable discussion perhaps take place based on physics and circumstances?

I find this a misleading comparison.  The cyclist did not "bound erratically out of a bush"...they were riding along in a lane of traffic, where one should expect to see other road traffic.

Nobody is taking an absolutist point of view here, I said any driver should be able to avoid a cyclist cycling according to the rules of the road.  If instead a cyclist darts out of a bush in front of a moving vehicle that cannot possibly stop, then I won't blame the operator of that vehicle.
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For half a decade, I took the first 7 of the morning up to Conestoga Mall. I know the off-ramp where this happened quite well. Your visual line swoops to show you everything that could possibly come up behind you, before straightening you out and (should) with the curve, slow you down. Even that first 7 of the morning, arriving at the mall before 6am, there were always several people getting off at that very off-ramp, to cross the street to their work. So even at that time of day, not only are there cars there, but also pedestrians and others, and awareness of others on the road for an area with no hiding places, no bushes to bound out of. I would totally blame a driver for killing someone if they couldn't stop soon enough while speeding through snow or fog that meant they couldn't stop safely, and I'll similarly call them out for killing a cyclist if they didn't like that the cyclist was dark, in a world where Daytime Running Lights on cars mean they often have zero lights on their backside either.
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(03-28-2018, 01:00 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: For half a decade, I took the first 7 of the morning up to Conestoga Mall. I know the off-ramp where this happened quite well. Your visual line swoops to show you everything that could possibly come up behind you, before straightening you out and (should) with the curve, slow you down. Even that first 7 of the morning, arriving at the mall before 6am, there were always several people getting off at that very off-ramp, to cross the street to their work. So even at that time of day, not only are there cars there, but also pedestrians and others, and awareness of others on the road for an area with no hiding places, no bushes to bound out of. I would totally blame a driver for killing someone if they couldn't stop soon enough while speeding through snow or fog that meant they couldn't stop safely, and I'll similarly call them out for killing a cyclist if they didn't like that the cyclist was dark, in a world where Daytime Running Lights on cars mean they often have zero lights on their backside either.

Also, we don't even know if the cyclist had lights.  Even the defence attorney did not claim so.
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Sounds like there’s a lot we actually don’t know! Almost like we shouldn’t be making judgments.
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(03-28-2018, 01:19 PM)Canard Wrote: Sounds like there’s a lot we actually don’t know! Almost like we shouldn’t be making judgments.

If not us, then who?  Apparently not the courts.

Or perhaps, the courts have made their judgement, and now I am judging the courts.

What I cannot accept is that I can be biking perfectly according to the rules of the road, in reasonable conditions, no adverse weather, and be killed by a driver and have that be called "a freak accident".

That isn't something I think we should accept in our society.
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And all I was saying that wearing dark clothing on a dark road increased the risk of being hit, whether the driver is guilty or not.

Me, I prefer to stay alive. Even if the driver were to be convicted after hitting me.
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(03-28-2018, 11:55 AM)KevinL Wrote: A new advocacy group: http://cyclewr.ca/

Nice, an alternate to the other group?

Who’s behind this one?
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