Thanks Glen, those are really useful points. I had no idea the roof support could hide a bus …

Wonderful to hear this! Thanks for sharing it with us. I agree that most people in the world have good intentions.

I have to agree with you on this Nancy. During our year of travel we found the matjrioy of people to be kindhearted and generous. We also had many people (in the U.S., New Zealand and Australia) invite us to stay the night, buy us meals, and give us the key to their house! They shipped packages home for us, sent our son Legos for Christmas, brought us homemade birthday cake at the top of Hoosier Pass (for our son’s 9th birthday), saved us from a lightening storm and drove miles out of their way to help us. I could go on and on. Our experiences have reinforced our belief that most people in the world have good intentions. We hope the end of your journey continues to be blessed with an outpouring of love and kindness. All the best. Dorrie, Mike and Gregory Williams[]

Could not agree more about the dedicated off road cycleways, Roy. Vancouver is bringing a lot of them in at the moment. It’s not easy – business fights back, but thanks to a determined mayor, we are winning.

The argument for dedicated off road cycleways (or separated bike routes) is so obvious: bikes and cars are not compatible vehicles. Cars are so much bigger and faster, they pose an obvious danger to cyclists. It’s similar to having Sumo wrestlers and toddlers competing on the same track – no one would do that, because of the risk the Sumos would crush the toddlers!

Defensiveness is key. I am never more alert than when I’m on my bike. I use a mirror to keep an eye on what’s going on behind me, and try to be aware of everything in front and to the sides, too.

If I think about it, there have been times when I have opened a car door without looking – we all make mistakes, or get distracted, as you say, Sean. The thought that I could have killed someone by doing that is enough to make me feel ill. There but for the grace and all that. Of course, now that I am a cyclist, on the rare occasions that I do drive I am more careful than I have ever been before around cyclists – but I’m still not perfect.

I think Sean, Stephan & Graeme are all saying much the same thing – use your brain and discretion. Which is definitely what I would agree with. And of course, trying not to hold cars up – I always think it’s a good idea not to annoy people who are in a position to kill you on a whim … still, I would like to know what the law says, which is why the VACC course would be good. I am often in situations where I wonder if I could be fined – such as on the Sea to River bike route, where Metro Vancouver is STILL riding roughshod over cyclists’ rights, by blocking up the route and not providing signage or alternatives. I just go ahead and ride on the sidewalk as they have blocked off the road – but I am at the same time aware that this is illegal – but is it still illegal if the city takes away your alternatives. I mean, what am I supposed to do – fly?

Of course a cyclist doesn’t deserve to die for someone else’s mistake. But we all make mistakes. We get distracted and for a split second we do something without thinking that may have disastrous consequences.

It’s happened to me more times than I’d like to admit. I’ve made mistakes while driving and cycling which could potentially have killed me if the circumstances had been a little different.

So I really believe that everyone – motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, need to “act defensively”. Accidents hurt you just as badly even if it’s the other guy at fault. And some day, when you’re the one who makes the mistake, the difference between tragedy and a lesson learned is whether or not the other guy made allowance for your blunder.

1 meter rule or not, I’d still check my mirror…

Don’t take this as legal advice because I’m about as far from a lawyer as you can get – but legally speaking bicycles are treated as motor vehicles, and my understanding is that a motor vehicle cannot pass on the right unless there’s a separately marked lane or unless the vehicle being passed is stopped to make a left-hand turn.

So I believe that means if you’ve got a marked bike lane you’re good to go, but otherwise you should stay in line.

In practice, what I do depends an awful lot on the circumstances. If there’s plenty of room on the right and there’s a fairly long lineup, I’ll usually proceed beside the cars – largely because if I stay in line then I’d end up delaying the cars behind me when the light turns green.

But if I do stay in line then I do what the VACC taught me – I “take the lane”, riding far enough from the right side of the lane so that cars can’t try to squeeze by.

As with most things, I’m perhaps naive enough to think that as long as my actions don’t cause any problems, nobody’s likely to charge me with minor infractions. And I say this not in the spirit of trying to get away with something but rather in appreciation of the fact that there are occasions where blindly obeying the letter of the law will cause more general inconvenience than by bending it a little.

It’s the same attitude I have when, instead of pushing the button to get a “walk” signal to cross the street, I wait for a while to see if I can safely cross during a break in traffic without having to force anyone to stop for me.