BEST CHEAP EXERCISE BIKE

As in other corridors in Victoria and elsewhere that bike lanes are emerging as a treatment of choice to support cycling, the adaptation of motorists to the guidance provided by road markings is immediate and visible on the road.

It runs counter to the ideology of cyclists who oppose bike lanes, sometimes using the rhetoric that a painted line on the road offers no protection for cyclists. Clearly the ability of drivers to read and understand stencils and markings that define space for everyone on the road provides well for the safety of cyclists and other traffic.

Along Victoria's Bay St., bike lanes are being added in short sections taking advantage of unique funding opportunities to assist tight municipal budgets with costlier infrastructure projects. This piece, now complete, at least for a couple of blocks, was funded by British Columbia's provincially owned, government auto insurance agency with the intent to reduce accidents and thus claims at the intersection in the distant background. The bike lanes were opportunistic additions to the project as the road segment went on a "diet from 4 lanes to 3 as much to accommodate dedicated left turn movements at the intersection, where too many dangerous and costly collisions were occuring.

The public insurance corporation also specifically supports bike lane projects in some locations where cyclist safety may be an issue. Their analysis indicates a safety dividend from bicycle lanes, countering the frequently dismissed criticisms of anti-bike lane ideologues. The insurer uses accident and claims history to inform their policy, making a strong case that clear evidence supports increased safety for cyclists where bike lanes are provided.

This was the scene as I emerged from Central park this morning: two drivers bumped each other, so they parked in the bus stop, inconveniencing all the bus passengers, and called a cop, who had to come down and provide free loss adjustment services for an hour or so for their insurers instead of catching bad guys. Just another subsidy motorists unfairly sucked from from the rest of us.

Why are cops required to do this for motorists? It yields absolutely no public benefit in terms of safety or otherwise. It only helps the motorists make claims on their insurers, and those insurers to make claims against each other.

If cops spent as much time investigating and documenting bike thefts--many of which involve as much financial loss as a typical fender bender, and which reflect actual crime that should be a priority--we might catch more bike thieves and see fewer bike thefts. But the investigation in this picture isn't going to do a bit of good for anyone but the parties involved and their insurers. Why am I paying for it?