Airbags and Platoons
For those who would like to cycle with full protection, but just can’t handle the helmet hair, at last … an airbag with fashion sense:
That’s not the only change that may come as cycling culture changes in Vancouver with the development of separated cycle tracks like those on Dunsmuir and Hornby. Cyclists – and this is so ironic – are going to have to give up some of their anarchistic individuality and learn how to cycle respectfully in groups.
Urban cycling for most of the last century was something one did, in a sense, by oneself. Though you might be surrounded by traffic, you were out there on your own – rather like a kayaker in whitewater – tossed into a high-speed flow of potential threats. You chose your relative pace and position. And another cyclist was just another moving object.
There were rarely enough cyclists in one place to constitute ‘traffic.’ Cars, on the other hand, certainly in downtown areas or on freeways, tend to flow in groups. They bunch together at traffic lights when red, and then move on in a collective group on green – creating what traffic engineers call a platoon – and often stay in a bunch, each moving at the same speed in the same relative position.
Cyclists occasionally gather at a signal – noticeable on the bikeways at, say, Clark on the Adanac or 10th at Cambie. But the faster cyclists quickly pass the slower ones, and have no sense of moving together. They rarely even give each other notice when passing, unlike vehicles where courtesy (and the law) require signalling.
That’s going to change. As the two-way cycle tracks, bordered on both sides by curbs,
begin to attract so many cyclists that platooning becomes more common, cyclists are going to have to learn a little respect – for each other. The hotdoggers will have to slow a little, the slow ones speed up a tad - until a standard speed becomes the collective norm. (It’ll probably be about 20 kph.) That’s normal urban transportation cycling, from Beijing to Copenhagen.
Above all, there will have to be more rigorous standards for passing. Like a few polite words – “On your left”- or a flick of a bell. (Oh yeah, a bell – another legal requirement largely ignored because, up to now, they haven`t really been necessary.)
So for all those critics of the cycle tracks, who have been chastizing cyclists as inconsiderate yahoos – well, you have a point. But that’s because we threw bicycles into traffic and somehow thought they should be behave like vehicles. Fat chance.
But with the cycle tracks and the growth in bicycle use – oh, the irony - they actually will have to act more like traffic. For their own safety and mutual convenience.
Now, I think, would be a very good time to undertake a Respectful Cycling Campaign.
I really don’t get the “irony” about bikes riding together… It’s a pretty normal thing to do – take a look on most busy bike routes during peak hours and you’ll see plenty of cyclists riding together. It isn’t anything new by any means.
If you want to see lots and lots of bikes sorting out riding together in close quarters, take a look at the Stanley Park Seawall on any given sunny day… Only there’s rollerbladers thrown in to that mix too!
Totally agree that more cyclists should have bells. To me riding without a bell is like going out without underwear – sure, you can do it but it feels pretty uncomfortable!
I think the irony is that some people oppose new separated bike lanes because they don’t like the behaviour of cyclists, but it is those exact lanes that will bring improvements in cyclists behaviour.
If you have to be crazy to cycle, then only crazy people will be cycling, but if cycling infrastructure improves enough to attract a crowd of more cautious types, it seems likely that overall cyclist culture will start to change. I’ve already noticed a change along Dunsmuir St. since the new lane went in.
PRICE TAGS: You have it exactly right, Declan.
Generally I agree with your points that cycling culture in Vancouver will evolve as there are more cyclists. But I doubt that we’ll see much passing etiquette or 20kph average speed. In a year of urban biking in China, I never once heard someone call out before passing. Bells may ring, but they ring all the time no matter what is going on. Can’t say they are much use, except for the pure pleasure of ringing it. As for the speeds, there was at least two or three tiers of speeds that I saw in China: ebikes zipping by, average cyclists, and cargo bikes. The middle group may have averaged at 20kph but I wouldn’t overlook the fact that it was a flat city. Vancouver’s up and down terrain means that speeds will probably always be more variable.
The biggest change I look forward to more cyclists in Vancouver is better conventions at intersections. I’d like to see cyclists stop forming skinny lines squeezed between cars and the curb. We should be bunching up (bike box or not), and taking the whole lane. And flying through stop signs/lights should become less common as other law-abiding cyclists block the way.
Agreed; other rogue individualistic cyclists can be pretty unpredictable, and we’ll likely see less unpredictable behaviour as the cycling population grows and overall becomes more conservative in its riding style. That said, I agree that there will continue to be a fairly wide range of speeds, due in part to topography (as mentioned), but also due in part to diversity in culture (intense grouse grind types mixing with commuters or cruisers) and equipment (there is a much wider range of bicycle in use on Vancouver’s streets than say, in your typical Chinese city).
One more note: the legal requirement for a ”bell’ is are a bit of a pet peeve of mine; as policy goes, it’s definitely ‘picking a winner’. The objective is that cyclists should be able to make a warning noise; why not air horns? or yelling? or, in my case, a nastily squealing front brake? It’s bad policy to pick a particular solution to a problem, rather than letting multiple solutions flourish. Surely it should be live and let live, so long as you are capable of making a warning noise, however you choose to do it. Etiquette, as noted earlier, is of course the final determinant; having a bell/horn/vocal chords, isn’t the same as using it in a polite and timely way.
I actually like my bell quite a lot. When I come up behind a gaggle of pedestrians spread across the width of a shared path I can give off a little “ding-ding!” with my bell and everyone immediately understands that I’m a bike and moves aside without even having to turn around. I’ve found it to be a lot more efficient than when I say “excuse me!” or “coming through!” – those seem to elicit puzzled looks in my direction followed by reactions that range from shock/fear/indecision to the desired response.
Air horns may be appropriate for cars, but I think they’d scare the bejezuz out of pedestrians.
A better solution than airbags or helmets for cyclists. Exterior airbags for cars can reduce cyclist AND pedestrian injuries by 50%
http://www.examiner.com/bicycle-transportation-in-new-york/exterior-airbags-on-autos-reduce-ped-and-cyclist-injury-by-half-collision-tests