Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Are cyclists pedestrians or traffic?

Montreal's Fagstein blog does a great analysis of intersections and traffic lights and should cyclists follow the I'm a car driver" (red, green, yellow) traffic lights or the "I'm a pedestrian" (walk/don't walk) traffic lights.

The blog author traveled the length of Montreal's Route Verte #1 which is the city's principal north-south bicycle-path axis. (which follows Berri, Brebeuf, Boyer, and Christophe-Coulombe streets).

It's not as easy as it sounds to do the right thing/follow the traffic-light logic. There is no consistent pattern to the bicycle-traffic-management traffic lights, and many cyclists do a "no-cars-coming? Then I'm going" strategy at intersections.

This is a really excellent piece of work (link). There are plenty of photos too.

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The best thing about this path is the destination(s). At either end you arrive at rivers, and riverside parks and bike paths.

Go north and you will soon reach the north shore of Montreal island. It's not a big island in the north-south direction. There are many riverside parks to ride through, or just stop and enjoy the summer day. You can do a nice loop on both sides of the river by crossing to the Laval side.

Go south and you hit Centre ville and old Montreal and the Vieux Port.

Shut the computer (yes, turn it off!) and go outside and discover your city. Summer doesn't last forever.

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