My column about the risks associated with riding a bicycle around London prompted several interesting responses. Here are two of them:

Reader D.G.B. had this to say:
“In your article in today’s LFP, Maureen Temme states that ” there are a lot of drivers out there who hate us”. Cyclists need the same lessons about pedestrian’s, as they regularly ride illegally on London sidewalks with impunity. A week ago Sunday, on the holiday weekend I went for my constitutional in Springbank Park, in the afternoon. This was a mistake not to be repeated!  I felt threatened as a walker, by cyclists. As a precautionary measure, I walk toward the oncoming traffic, so I can see the approaching menace. I say, menace, because an acquaintance was run down by a cyclist doing time trials in Springbank. As the gentlemen lay injured on the ground, the cyclist’s first concern was for his mangled, expensive bicycle! As I walked toward traffic in Springbank that day, I was almost run down by a cyclist who refused to give me any space and, in fact, rode toward me, just because he figured I was on his side of the path!
The cycling/motorist/pedestrian story has more than one side.”

I also received this viewpoint from Patrick Connor, executive director of the Ontario Trails Council and vice president of the Canadian Trails Federation:

“Instead of focusing the media on roads, how about on trails. NOTE – as a cyclist, I am fully supportive of safety and regret any loss of life or injury, however……London has 100′s km of off-road trails where people don’t get injured. Trails are just as vital a piece of alternate transportation as roads and, in an effective network, provide greater safety, better air quality, peace of travel and the travel space is shared with folks that want riders on the trail.

“If 10% of the effort was put into answering and providing maps that showed integration instead of forcing Ontario to make Ontario into Holland – (it’s not) accidents and the lack of cycle on road capacity Ontario would be better served.

Categories: General

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