[oclug] Parking for Aug Meeting

[Dave O'Neill]

On Wed, 1 Aug 2001, Jon Earle wrote:

> Bike paths are for bikes.  Why do so many people feel they have to use
> the road and leave a perfectly good bike path unused?  I see this all the
> time on the western parkway.  It really infuriates me at the lunacy of
> the cyclists - the path is only a few feet off the road, and yet they ride
> on the road!  Braver souls than I.

Well, leaving aside the fact that cyclists have just as much legal and
moral right to the road as a motorist, there's a couple of points you're
missing.

1) Almost all paths in Ottawa are not bicycle paths, but "recreational
   paths".  This means that they're filled with people walking, jogging,
   inline skating, walking dogs, children in strollers, etc, etc.  Now,
   this is fine if you're just out for a leisurely Sunday bike ride, but
   if you're commuting to work, it makes no sense at all, when you could
   double your speed by using the roads.

2) Recreational paths are usually not the most direct route.  They're
   generally laid out to be scenic and all, not to get cyclists from point
   A to point B in the shortest possible distance.  Roads are.

3) Believe it or not, it's safer on the road.  Drivers pay little to no
   attention to anyone not on the road itself, and a cyclist on a path (or
   the sidewalk, or even a bike lane) stands a much greater chance of
   getting hit by a car than one on the road, as drivers don't tend to see
   bikes until it's too late if they're not on the road itself.

Okay, enough of this... this is really not relevant to the list, so this
will be my last post on the subject.  Anyone wishing to discuss this
further, please email me directly.

Dave
--
aitchteeteepeecolonslashslashtripledoubleyoudotevilplotdotorgslashtildedave
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