I work five days a week and use a bicycle to get to work. On some days, I consider myself a cyclist, while on others, I am a little more ambivalent.
On the road I use, the bike lane ends abruptly at an intersection. I merged and cycled one metre from the curb, essentially taking the lane. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) recommends that cyclists maintain a metre distance from parked cars and the curb:
When going straight ahead, use the right-hand through lane. Stay about one metre from the curb to avoid curbside hazards and ride in a straight line.
In urban areas where a curb lane is too narrow to share safely with a motorist, it is legal to take the whole lane by riding in the centre of it. On high-speed roads, it is not safe to take the whole lane. To move left in a lane, should check, signal, left and shoulder check again then move to the centre of the lane when it is safe to do so.
Unfortunately, a passenger in a truck was none too pleased.
As the truck rushed past me, a man in the passenger seat leaned out and screamed: “don’t bike in the middle of the road!” After cycling to work for about two months and being tired of motorists not only screaming at me, but getting upset over rules set out by the MTO, I replied: “I am a metre away from the curb!”
Whenever someone shouts, “Get off the road!” I wonder where they think I’ll go. It is illegal to cycle on the sidewalk. In Ontario, a bicycle is considered a vehicle and must adhere to the same rules of the road as a car.
I don’t like generalizing people as motorists, pedestrians, bus users, or cyclists because it ignores that we might be all three or implies that we can only be one or the other. I take my bike on the bus. I walk. I don’t drive because I don’t own a car, but every few months, I catch a car ride.
Please, if you’re driving, pay attention. Check for cyclists before you turn onto another street. Check your mirrors before opening your door if you’re parked on a street where you might hit a cyclist. Please don’t honk at a cyclist. It doesn’t help and it’s rather scary, making us likely to swerve. Please, remember: if you hit someone on a bicycle, the cyclist will be gravely injured. You might not be.
Tamara Nahal
