Invented in 1932, the cyclomer was the world’s first amphibious bicycle. The interesting thing about the cyclomer is that it didn’t actually work on land—or on water.
In that sense, the cyclomer is a lot like bike lanes on busy roads, in that they don’t work for cyclists or motorists. Which is why I think restricting the expansion of bike lanes on busy roads is a smart move.
If you haven’t heard, the province is maybe going to introduce legislation that limits where municipalities can build bike lanes. I say “maybe” because this legislation doesn’t actually exist yet; in fact the provincial government isn’t even sitting in Queen’s Park for another few weeks. But already this potential piece of legislation, which leaked out this week, is causing consternation for some cyclists. But not me, a person who, as much as it paints me to admit, is a frequent cyclist.
That’s right, I’m a cyclist. I’m embarrassed to reveal I own numerous pairs of those ridiculous cycling shorts that have the padded bum built into the fabric. I’m ashamed to own up to the fact that I’m a cyclist, mostly because cyclists are the most insufferable group of people around. Primarily because they feel smug about their chosen mode of transportation, but also because I loathe the sense of entitlement many cyclists have about roads.
Despite being a cyclist myself, I am firmly of the belief that roads are for cars. Roads were purpose-built for cars, and they should be used primarily by cars.
When cycling, I stick to segregated bike lanes as much as possible (the Friendship Trail, the Waterfront Trail, etc.) and if I absolutely have to ride on a road, I only do so on sleepy side roads, and even then, I stick as far as possible off to the side, and typically pull right off the shoulder if I see a car coming.
Why? Because I don’t trust motorists. I barely trust my fellow motorists when I’m driving around in the comfort of my Hyundai, tucked neatly inside a steel cage with airbags and seatbelts, so there’s no way I’m trusting them when I’m exposed to their madness with nothing but a helmet and a prayer.
Have you seen what pickup trucks look like these days? Modern pickup trucks are blind-spot-riddled cyclist murder machines. A new Ford F-150 weighs 2,274 kilograms. Do you know what that will do to a cyclist riding a 10 kilogram road bike, wearing nothing but some bum-padded shorts? It’s not pretty.
Modern pickup trucks are blind-spot-riddled cyclist murder machines
The mere fact that there are monstrosities like the F-150 zipping around roads is enough to make sure I don’t ride my bike anywhere near them. And you shouldn’t either. And we shouldn’t be putting bike lanes on those roads either.
This is not to suggest we shouldn’t promote cycling as a healthy, environmentally friendly way to get around. But we should be doing it in a way that keeps cyclists safe, and the way to do that is with segregated bike lanes.
Nordic countries have thousands of kilometres of segregated bike lanes that keep cyclists and motorists apart, and the result is an astonishingly low fatality rate for cyclists. In 2021, Norway reported just four cycling fatalities, while Iceland reported just one. In Denmark, a country where 36 percent of all adults ride a bike to work, they reported only 22 cyclist fatalities that year. Meanwhile, in Canada, where we have far, far fewer cyclists than those Nordic countries, we have far more cyclist deaths. On average, 74 cyclists die in collisions with cars every year in Canada, which is more than Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden combined, because those countries all have segregated bike lanes.
In a perfect world, cyclists and motorists could share the road. But we have decades of evidence showing that it simply doesn’t work. The answer is not to build more bike lanes on busy roads, but instead to look to our Nordic friends, and build separate infrastructure that keeps cyclists away from the drivers.
Until then, I’m going to work on my cyclomer design and start riding my bike down the Niagara River to get to work, because as mad as that sounds, it’s safer than sharing the road with pickup trucks.
James Culic supports a ban on pickup trucks. Find out how to yell at him at the bottom of this page, or email a waterproof letter to the editor.
