Bikelash - It's a thing

September 02, 2019, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Bikelash – It’s a Thing

The clash between cyclists and car drivers is real. It seems that it’s particularly pronounced in some urban areas, and in some rural ones too. I’ve written before on the conflicts between cyclists and drivers on the roadways.  It seems that sharing the road is an issue for many of us. Following the rules of the road is problematic as well. There are ample examples of both cyclists and drivers who are not following the rules and who are endangering one another on the roads.

Roads have been designed historically for motor transport. Bicycle transport remains an afterthought still. We have been trying to retrofit a system to accommodate them. Bike lanes in urban areas could help to ease traffic congestion but drivers are up in arms about ‘losing’ roadway to bikes. Politicians in Ontario’s largest cities have in the past been against the ‘war on cars’ that constructing bike lanes represented to them. This is in the face of the facts that the installation of dedicated bike lanes only slow car traffic commutes very slightly while increase public transit times significantly and increase bike ridership almost four times.

The construction of dedicated separated bike lanes reduces car/bike collisions, increases bike ridership, and improves the amount of time that people spend in local businesses along the routes. This last point is what may sell them to merchants struggling to stay open. It seems that cyclists shop more frequently than drivers and they shop more locally.

Car drivers resent cyclists who don’t follow the rules of he road, but the statistics have shown that in reported car/bike collisions the blame is 5050 for cause of the accident. It appears that although drivers think cyclists are breaking the rules, they are at fault as often as the cyclists are in accidents.

The backlash against cyclists will likely not change until a critical mass of car drivers begin to commute by bike and begin to identify with each other. The solution to grid lock and pollution is to reduce the number of cars on the road. Bikes seem ideally suited to solving the problem.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

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