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That’s why bikes have knobbly tires, isn’t it?

There was some discussion earlier today in the Blue Room regarding people who, for whatever reason, choose to ride bikes in the winter. Personally, I won’t ride my bike if I have to wear gloves and a toque, whether there’s snow on the ground or not.
There was some discussion earlier today in the Blue Room regarding people who, for whatever reason, choose to ride bikes in the winter. Personally, I won’t ride my bike if I have to wear gloves and a toque, whether there’s snow on the ground or not. To me, a bike just isn't a winter vehicle.

But, some people find riding a bike to be very convenient, even in the winter.

I have a friend, who now lives in Ottawa, who rides her bike 12 months of the year. She doesn’t own a car, and finds a bike to be more convenient than taking the bus.

As I stated in the Blue Room, even though there appear to be more people riding bikes in the winter, I don’t think the average motorist really expects to encounter bikes during the winter months.

Even during the summer months motorists complain — and rightly so — about bike riders who dart across the road without looking, and generally disregard the rules of the road. As bike rider myself, I’d like to think that most bike riders are fairly responsible, but I know that there are many who aren’t.

In the winter, the irresponsible bike rider poses even more of a hazard on the roads. Let’s face it, riding a bike in the winter has to be a rather precarious proposition.

Never mind the lack of visibility due to snowbanks and falling snow, staying upright on a two-wheeled bike on roads that are snow-packed and icy can’t always be easy. Add to that the reduced field of vision a rider may have when wearing a hooded jacket or winter headgear, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Of course, not all the blame goes to the rider. Many drivers seem rather inattentive these days, or perhaps their attention is simply diverted from the task at hand — driving — to other tasks, such as talking on the cellphone, fiddling with the CD player, putting on make-up, reading the paper, etc.

On Tuesday I was almost run over by a driver who was making a left turn and, as it seemed to me, didn’t check for pedestrians in the intersection. This wasn't the first time, either. I have developed the habit of checking and re-checking for inattentive drivers, especially at intersections.

As for bikes, someone suggested that they should be banned from roads in the winter. While that would fall under the category of ‘protecting us from ourselves,’ which is a function that often falls to the government, I can’t help but wonder if that is really the answer.

As I mentioned, most bike riders are very responsible, even in the winter. Why should they be punished for the carelessness of a few others?

In a perfect world bad drivers — drivers and bicyclists — would be caught and ticketed by the Police and would, hopefully, correct their bad habits. In a perfect world.

In the real world, the Police are very busy investigating break-ins and robberies, domestic assaults, and other more pressing matters. This is not to say traffic enforcement isn’t important, but resources are limited and the Police end up doing more responding to incidents than enforcement and prevention.

So it falls to us to police ourselves, and it seems we aren’t really doing that good a job of it.

One often hears of an accident occurring, and the location described as being a particularly bad intersection. It seems we have quite a number of these "bad intersections." Or, is it more the case that we have quite a number of "bad drivers?"

After all, many more drivers went through those same intersections without getting into an accident.

Driving — and bike riding — requires a good deal of concentration, as well as awareness of oneself and other traffic. It only takes a moment of inattention to be involved in, or cause, an accident.

Please, drive — and bike — with care... whatever the season.

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