City Conversations – Style, Safety and Rive Rides, What’s New for Metro Vancouver Cyclists
Time: 12:30-1:30pm
Place: 1600, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street
Cost: Free
As more people and families use bicycles for everyday transportation, what new facilities does Vancouver need so that they feel safe and protected?
Erin O’Melinn, Executive Director of HUB, the region’s cycling coalition, will outline what cyclists think the needs are, and when they will happen.
Journalist and blogger Chris Bruntlett will describe cycling style, as it evolves beyond racers in lycra and wild messengers making deliveries, to business casual, fashion and fun.
Metro Vancouver has begun work on a 642-kilometer Canyon to Coast cycling and walking trail, paralleling the mighty Fraser River from Hope to Richmond and Vancouver. Vancouver Sun reporter Kelly Sinoski recently rode the entire route, and she’ll share her pioneering experiences.
How about mandatory lights. I am apalled how many cyclists don’t have this basic equipment.
Lights are mandatory. Check-out the Motor Vehicle Act, Chapter 318, Part III, Section 183(6):
(6) A cycle operated on a highway between 1/2 hour after sunset and 1/2 hour before sunrise must have the following equipment:
(a) a lighted lamp mounted on the front and under normal atmospheric conditions capable of displaying a white light visible at least 150 m in the direction the cycle is pointed;
(b) a red reflector of a make or design approved by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia for the purposes of this section;
(c) a lighted lamp, mounted and visible to the rear, displaying a red light.
I know folks who say they’ll be home before dark so don’t bring their lights along. Then they stay out later than they had planned.
Cars, trains and motorcycles all come with lights as standard equipment. When you buy a car you don’t then need to shop for a light (or decide if you’re going to ever need one.)
Maybe we need a law that states you can’t sell a bike without lights on it. (Germany has a law like that.)
I like these City Conversations. It’s a sane place to talk about these issues. I went to one last year and I liked how I was finally able to understand where motorists were coming from. That they weren’t all irrational crazies after all. And I’m glad to have had a chance to respond and inform where I was coming from too.
Good stuff.