Jul 31 2008
Bad “Cycling Tips” advice on CBC News
The CBC News website recently featured a Q&A article on cycling called: Your Interview: Cycling tips. Readers submitted questions and 17 were chosen to be answered by “celebrity” bike mechanic and coordinator Sherri Byer from The Community Bicycle Network of Toronto. The article didn’t go into great detail on any topic, but did offer some disturbing advice (emphasis mine):
Question: I’m sick of stopping behind busses at every bus stop in the bus/bike lane, usually if I’m ahead of a bus I stay ahead of the bus. Is there a safe way to pass the bus?
Answer: Having not ridden in Winnipeg, I can only assume that lane configuration puts you in the same position — physically and legally — as the cities that I am more familiar with. It’s true: sometimes you fall behind them, sometimes ahead of them, and always we are traffic, just like motorized vehicles. The safest way to pass is on the right, when the bus is moving (that is to say not stopped with the doors opened for passengers).
Passing a vehicle -especially a bus- on the right is dangerous and stupid. Let’s look at what’s wrong with this:
- Passing a bus on the right puts you into the driver’s blind spot. This is the last place you want to be. Although a driver might be able to see the cyclist in their mirror, the driver won’t be expecting a cyclist to be there, especially if the bus never passed the cyclist.
- Buses are wide vehicles and take up most of the lane. A cyclist could easily be pushed into the curb while the driver tries to keep the bus within the lane.
- Buses usually approach the curb as they approach a bus stop, and thereby could collide with the cyclist or push the cyclist into the curb.
- A bus could suddenly turn right and cutoff the cyclist (see Collision Type #4 on bicyclesafe.com).
My advice is to always pass on the left when it’s legal and safe to do so. If it’s not possible, then suck it up and stay behind the bus. It doesn’t matter if it’s your legal right to pass on the right: A cyclist always loses in an accident.
2 responses so far
I live in a town where a lot of people bike. The problem is that few ever follow the rules, the laws, or good judgement. I worry all the time about creaming one of them and having that guilt on my conscience. However, if someone does decide to pass a bus on the right, let them. They will be removed from the gene pool and hopefully not pass along their genes. Earlier this week, I was tandem passed, in my VW on the right and the left by two militant bikers. All it would have taken for me is a slight move and I could have killed two birds with one stone. Alas, I try to watch out for them, even when they behave badly. Perhaps you could post why people on bikes seem to think that the vehicular laws do not apply to them?
I agree there are cyclists who ride with a sense of elitism as if the laws don’t apply to them. They’re idiots, but I don’t think killing them is the solution.
There will always be asshole motorists and there will always be asshole cyclists. Try to be neither of them.