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Temporary signs erected on either end of a popular underpass connecting Sandy Hill and the University of Ottawa with Centretown and other points west of the Rideau Canal have created confusion and frustration among some cyclists and pedestrians.
The signs suggest cyclists dismount and walk their bicycles through the area, which they share with pedestrians and construction workers busily trying to complete the new uOttawa light-rail station.
But is it against the law to disregard the signs, as hundreds of cyclists do daily? Not really.
According to the City of Ottawa, “due to various property ownerships in this area, neither the Highway Traffic Act nor (the) city’s Traffic and Parking Bylaw are applicable.”
OC Transpo special constables, who were on the scene Thursday morning during a random safety blitz, told this newspaper they could write people a $65-ticket under the Trespass Property Act because the tunnel itself is Transpo’s property.
Yet even they confessed the signs are confusing.
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury said he’s not aware of any major accidents, but there have been some “near misses.”
“I’m quite aware of the challenges,” he said, referring to the possibility of conflicts between people on two wheels and those on two feet.
During a span of 15 minutes on a recent weekday afternoon, 40 people cycled right on by the advisory signs, including a pair of uniformed Ottawa police officers. Only two people — a man with a young boy — got off and walked their bikes.
“I’m guilty of this,” said Fleury, who regularly commutes by bike. When he passes through the underpass early in the morning or after-hours, he doesn’t dismount because there’s no one around.
Cyclists are asked to dismount because the underpass is an active construction site with workers regularly crossing the shared pathway, the city says.
University of Ottawa security officials instruct cyclists to walk their bikes through a pedestrian tunnel under Nicholas St by the University of Ottawa campus.
However, the same written statement says “signs are posted to remind cyclists and users to go slow and use caution in order to minimize the risk of a collision or injury.”
Given the lack of clarity, Heather Shearer, an avid cyclist and president of Bike Ottawa, says it’s up to individuals to decide how to behave.
It is possible for people to safely ride through there while ensuring they don’t crash into pedestrians, she said. It’s also possible for the city to build multi-use pathways and other shared infrastructure in such a way that doing the safe and intuitive thing is also the most convenient.
“There’s a cost to building things that are safe, convenient and easy to use. It’s not a large cost, but the city does try to stretch its budgets,” Shearer said.
A new set of stairs on the south side of the tunnel were supposed to be open already, but Rideau Transit Group, the city’s LRT contractor, evidently blew that deadline.
“You know how it’s been with RTG. I’ve been disappointed by the slipping timelines,” Fleury said.
The new completion date is sometime in August, according to a statement from Steve Cripps, the city’s director of O-Train Construction.
Once construction is complete and the Confederation LRT Line is open, pedestrians will be encouraged to walk along the south side of the underpass tunnel and up the stairs, while cyclists, as well as people in motorized wheelchairs and scooters, will travel along north side of the underpass and up the ramp without having to dismount.
In the meantime, Shearer concluded, the signs are a “band-aid solution.” They don’t improve safety, but rather reinforce the misperception that cyclists disobey “laws” and behave in a manner that puts themselves and others in danger.
When asked what they do when they see the walk-your-bike signs, Twitters followers of the #ottbike hashtag offered a variety of answers.
“As it is advisory sign, I would assess the situation: if it is packed with peds (common shorthand for pedestrians), I’d walk, else I’d bike slowly onward,” replied one user.
Another suggested he’d ignore the signs because, “I take up more space walking beside my bike than I do riding it. I can ride slowly and not rundown pedestrians.”
Others were more blunt: “I’ve never seen anyone get off their bike … it seems ridiculous … just slow down and don’t be an idiot.”
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
The signs suggest cyclists dismount and walk their bicycles through the area, which they share with pedestrians and construction workers busily trying to complete the new uOttawa light-rail station.
But is it against the law to disregard the signs, as hundreds of cyclists do daily? Not really.
According to the City of Ottawa, “due to various property ownerships in this area, neither the Highway Traffic Act nor (the) city’s Traffic and Parking Bylaw are applicable.”
OC Transpo special constables, who were on the scene Thursday morning during a random safety blitz, told this newspaper they could write people a $65-ticket under the Trespass Property Act because the tunnel itself is Transpo’s property.
Yet even they confessed the signs are confusing.
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury said he’s not aware of any major accidents, but there have been some “near misses.”
“I’m quite aware of the challenges,” he said, referring to the possibility of conflicts between people on two wheels and those on two feet.
During a span of 15 minutes on a recent weekday afternoon, 40 people cycled right on by the advisory signs, including a pair of uniformed Ottawa police officers. Only two people — a man with a young boy — got off and walked their bikes.
“I’m guilty of this,” said Fleury, who regularly commutes by bike. When he passes through the underpass early in the morning or after-hours, he doesn’t dismount because there’s no one around.
Cyclists are asked to dismount because the underpass is an active construction site with workers regularly crossing the shared pathway, the city says.
University of Ottawa security officials instruct cyclists to walk their bikes through a pedestrian tunnel under Nicholas St by the University of Ottawa campus.
However, the same written statement says “signs are posted to remind cyclists and users to go slow and use caution in order to minimize the risk of a collision or injury.”
Given the lack of clarity, Heather Shearer, an avid cyclist and president of Bike Ottawa, says it’s up to individuals to decide how to behave.
It is possible for people to safely ride through there while ensuring they don’t crash into pedestrians, she said. It’s also possible for the city to build multi-use pathways and other shared infrastructure in such a way that doing the safe and intuitive thing is also the most convenient.
“There’s a cost to building things that are safe, convenient and easy to use. It’s not a large cost, but the city does try to stretch its budgets,” Shearer said.
A new set of stairs on the south side of the tunnel were supposed to be open already, but Rideau Transit Group, the city’s LRT contractor, evidently blew that deadline.
“You know how it’s been with RTG. I’ve been disappointed by the slipping timelines,” Fleury said.
The new completion date is sometime in August, according to a statement from Steve Cripps, the city’s director of O-Train Construction.
Once construction is complete and the Confederation LRT Line is open, pedestrians will be encouraged to walk along the south side of the underpass tunnel and up the stairs, while cyclists, as well as people in motorized wheelchairs and scooters, will travel along north side of the underpass and up the ramp without having to dismount.
In the meantime, Shearer concluded, the signs are a “band-aid solution.” They don’t improve safety, but rather reinforce the misperception that cyclists disobey “laws” and behave in a manner that puts themselves and others in danger.
When asked what they do when they see the walk-your-bike signs, Twitters followers of the #ottbike hashtag offered a variety of answers.
“As it is advisory sign, I would assess the situation: if it is packed with peds (common shorthand for pedestrians), I’d walk, else I’d bike slowly onward,” replied one user.
Another suggested he’d ignore the signs because, “I take up more space walking beside my bike than I do riding it. I can ride slowly and not rundown pedestrians.”
Others were more blunt: “I’ve never seen anyone get off their bike … it seems ridiculous … just slow down and don’t be an idiot.”
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
