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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Death wish blog gets wheels spinning

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 09/10/2012 3:18 AM | Comments: 0

In a rant chosen as the Sunday Xtra blog of the week, a blogger tore a strip off a female cyclist towing a child trailer trying to thread between cars during rush hour. This got the commenter cycle going full tilt.

Towing your child behind you using a bicycle on a busy street is like drinking while pregnant. It doesn't always result in tragedy but it oftentimes does. Smarten up hippy woman.

-- Chaplin

Really wish folks read full articles to realize the driver is not complaining about the cyclist so much as the discourtesy this cyclist exhibited attempting to pass her on the right (illegal and highly unsafe, as drivers can't always see these sneaky acts, since we expect cyclists to follow the law by holding place in line!). So no this is not a case of drivers thinking they own the road, but of a brainless cyclist thinking they have no rules.

-- make it right

Not that long ago on Pembina, I saw a woman on her bike towing her child. At a construction area, where signs said no left turn allowed. There she was holding up the traffic while she attempted to make a left turn. This was at rush hour. Irresponsible or what? And she probably blames drivers for almost killing her and her child.

-- Bast

Yes, we drivers need to respect cyclists and learn how to share the road with them. However cyclists also must obey the rules of the road. Far too often I see them riding right through stop signs. My daughter (age 14) rode her bike to school one day (unfortunately on the sidewalk because she felt unsafe on the road). She was hit by a driver who unfortunately did not stop at a stop sign and claims did not see her. It was ruled that it was 100% my daughter's fault as she was riding on the sidewalk.

-- aallan1954

Please stop publishing articles like this. It simply foments anger against both drivers and cyclists. And since cyclists are in the minority, they really get it laid on. The Free Press is actively making the roads more dangerous for everyone by publishing hate opinion pieces. This kind of thing belongs in the tabloids, not in our Free Press.

Everyone just get along already. We all live here, we all have a right to be on the road, nobody has exclusive use of public roadways, so suck up your anger and let it go.

-- Kilgore Trout

Perhaps we should start demanding that cyclists apply for licences to be on certain roads/at certain times of day. Sure, no one needs a licence to drive through suburbia. But major thoroughfares? Make them take a road test, and give huge fines to people who don't get a licence -- or impound their bike.

-- Requin

This is why cyclists don't get as much respect on the road as they think they should.

-- wpgstudent

Considering the No. 1 way cyclists die is being hit from behind this sounds very dangerous on that stretch of road. We can easily shoot down this person for engaging in such a dangerous activity with a child. Understood. But maybe we should stop and think why they are doing it. Maybe they are at the start of a movement to put more bikes in use in Winnipeg.

Like it or not, every article like this puts biking on the radar for future improvements. Perhaps this person had no idea the danger, or perhaps they have just accomplished exactly what they wanted, publicity bikers want dedicated trails.

-- 23620382.

I saw something similar to this. The parent pulled up next to a truck and the exhaust was right at the same spot as their baby trailer. They sat at a red light for five minutes and when the light turned green the diesel truck spat out a huge puff of black smoke that engulfed their baby. A few lights down, the biker pushed past four stopped cars to be at the front of the pack and right beside the diesel truck again. I wish there were more police handing out tickets to cyclists. I think that they should have to register their bikes just like cars do and make it so they receive tickets for breaking the laws.

-- RegularWpgGuy

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 10, 2012 A8

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