Last year Peace Officers cracked down on cyclists riding their bikes on sidewalks along White Avenue, a very busy road in Edmonton. I shook my head and write to our mayor, also in connection with the jaywalking, and get an interesting reply. Mayor Stephen Mandel told me the roads here were too narrow to accommodate cyclists as well as cars. I suspect he does not know the width of European streets! Those streets still fit cyclists and the cyclists don’t even get run over by inconsiderate drivers. The fact that Edmonton has a city cycling map has two meanings to me. Yes, it’s nice to help cyclists get around. But no, it’s nonsense to tell cyclists where to go, which roads to stay off and to expect them to be polite enough to adhere to the maps. Imagine we’d do the same for drivers; channel them all onto the same route while keeping them off other routes so that different forms of transportation receive priority. In Europe we call that for example pedestrian zone, bike lane and bus lane. In Edinburgh, Scotland, one major road in the city centre is completely closed for cars and used as bus hub instead. In London, UK you pay to drive in the city centre and it’s not little money. But a price tag is totally fine when “education” & similar soft measures have failed. Call it, learning the hard way. Those who wait longer to change for the better might get hit even harder ... one fine day.
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