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(09-20-2019, 09:08 AM)goggolor Wrote: This is what concerns me about the Caroline Street MUT - in the space of 2-minute ride there are 3 crossings (William, FDB, and Erb) which are crosswalks so technically you're supposed to dismount and walk your bike across. In practice, no one ever does this. But if a cyclist even at a walking pace were to be hit crossing one of these roads, it would be dismissed as "riding in a crosswalk" instead of anyone asking why our cycling infrastructure is so lacking.
The city of Waterloo has managed to put in two cross-rides on the Laurel Trail. That might help if they could figure out how to designate more crossings as cross-rides. Everyone's point still stands about how we expect people on bicycles to do unreasonable things at most intersections though.
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(09-20-2019, 09:08 AM)goggolor Wrote: This is what concerns me about the Caroline Street MUT - in the space of 2-minute ride there are 3 crossings (William, FDB, and Erb) which are crosswalks so technically you're supposed to dismount and walk your bike across. In practice, no one ever does this. But if a cyclist even at a walking pace were to be hit crossing one of these roads, it would be dismissed as "riding in a crosswalk" instead of anyone asking why our cycling infrastructure is so lacking.
Don't forget Alexandra. And there are more going down towards Allen...
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(09-20-2019, 09:36 AM)bpoland Wrote: (09-20-2019, 09:08 AM)goggolor Wrote: This is what concerns me about the Caroline Street MUT - in the space of 2-minute ride there are 3 crossings (William, FDB, and Erb) which are crosswalks so technically you're supposed to dismount and walk your bike across. In practice, no one ever does this. But if a cyclist even at a walking pace were to be hit crossing one of these roads, it would be dismissed as "riding in a crosswalk" instead of anyone asking why our cycling infrastructure is so lacking.
Don't forget Alexandra. And there are more going down towards Allen...
I'm talking specifically about crossings that are marked as a crosswalk. Alexandra and the points between William & Allen are just painted with straight lines along the trail so I assume I'm legally allowed to ride my bike across there - and if a driver were to hit me, they might face some consequences. But I also know that at least one cyclist has been hit at Alexandra (which frankly is more dangerous than crossing William or Erb which have narrower turns and greater visibility).
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(09-20-2019, 09:08 AM)goggolor Wrote: This is what concerns me about the Caroline Street MUT - in the space of 2-minute ride there are 3 crossings (William, FDB, and Erb) which are crosswalks so technically you're supposed to dismount and walk your bike across. In practice, no one ever does this. But if a cyclist even at a walking pace were to be hit crossing one of these roads, it would be dismissed as "riding in a crosswalk" instead of anyone asking why our cycling infrastructure is so lacking.
Yes.
And I have a dozen downvotes on reddit for pointing this out.
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(09-20-2019, 09:08 AM)goggolor Wrote: This is what concerns me about the Caroline Street MUT - in the space of 2-minute ride there are 3 crossings (William, FDB, and Erb) which are crosswalks so technically you're supposed to dismount and walk your bike across. In practice, no one ever does this. But if a cyclist even at a walking pace were to be hit crossing one of these roads, it would be dismissed as "riding in a crosswalk" instead of anyone asking why our cycling infrastructure is so lacking.
"Technically"?
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(09-20-2019, 10:21 AM)panamaniac Wrote: (09-20-2019, 09:08 AM)goggolor Wrote: This is what concerns me about the Caroline Street MUT - in the space of 2-minute ride there are 3 crossings (William, FDB, and Erb) which are crosswalks so technically you're supposed to dismount and walk your bike across. In practice, no one ever does this. But if a cyclist even at a walking pace were to be hit crossing one of these roads, it would be dismissed as "riding in a crosswalk" instead of anyone asking why our cycling infrastructure is so lacking.
"Technically"?
Technically: " according to the facts or exact meaning of something; strictly."
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(09-20-2019, 10:21 AM)panamaniac Wrote: (09-20-2019, 09:08 AM)goggolor Wrote: This is what concerns me about the Caroline Street MUT - in the space of 2-minute ride there are 3 crossings (William, FDB, and Erb) which are crosswalks so technically you're supposed to dismount and walk your bike across. In practice, no one ever does this. But if a cyclist even at a walking pace were to be hit crossing one of these roads, it would be dismissed as "riding in a crosswalk" instead of anyone asking why our cycling infrastructure is so lacking.
"Technically"?
As in, the law requires that you do this, but the requirement is absurd in the context of reality.
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The MUTs on Ottawa South even have little 'dismount' signs at crosswalks, just to rub it in.
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(09-20-2019, 01:44 PM)KevinL Wrote: The MUTs on Ottawa South even have little 'dismount' signs at crosswalks, just to rub it in.
Yeah, these make me angry.
The Engineering standards documents from ontario EXPLICITLY PROHIBIT using these signs in these contexts, when I bring this up with regional staff they say "well, we try different things"...which of course they ONLY do to the detriment of non-motorized users.
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Funny how they never expect motorists to push their cars across intersections. Anyhow, as a cyclist, when approaching an intersection on a MUT, I don't expect to be able to cross at high speed without being aware of the traffic around me. I notice many cyclists don't have a mirror on their bikes and engage in unsafe behaviour.
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A mirror is not required, it's not unsafe to not have a mirror.
Here's another meaningful piece written by a local cyclist:
https://www.facebook.com/gaelen.merritt/...6546202093
The only thing I might clarify, he says that the Caroline crosswalks are meant to be used by cyclists, this may be true implicitly, but you will get ticketed just as fast if a driver hits you while you are crossing one, still illegal, and by illegal, I mean, entrapment.
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The contraflow to-be-segregated bike lanes on Erb are surprisingly useful. I've used them a number of times already. They are just more direct than other routes.
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My dad was complaining to me about those the other day. Apparently they cannot possibly make sense or be safe. He also doesn't believe in traffic calming 
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(09-21-2019, 04:07 PM)plam Wrote: The contraflow to-be-segregated bike lanes on Erb are surprisingly useful. I've used them a number of times already. They are just more direct than other routes.
Yeah. I've used them a few times, and it's definitely much faster than staying on the Laurel Trail through uptown. Unfortunately, they paved over the paint dividing the bike lanes from the traffic a few days after painting them.
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It looks like they paved over the dividing line to cover up the existing line that was water blasted off, as well as the two new lines they put down. Better to pave over the existing lines and put down a new set of clean lines to avoid any confusion. It also doesn't seem like the bike lanes on Erb are done yet. I recall that there will be some physical separation in the buffer space.
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