Cycling and bike lanes in Collingwood.

In one of my recent posts I got slated for suggesting that Hume St should not have bike lanes. I was also accused of being anti-bike. That is not the case, I ride myself actually, and very much enjoy it. One thing I do say though is bikes should be banned from town streets from December 1st to March 31st. This is for the protection of cyclists themselves. I remember around 3 or 4 years ago I was driving along Ontario St following a cyclist in full on bicycle winter race gear. It was in mid-March at the beginning of the big thaw. I followed this guy from the police station all the way to Niagara St doing around 15 mph. I eventually passed him after the stop sign and inadvertently splashed him with slush. I looked in my rear view mirror and this chap was shaking his fist at me and obviously calling me all the names under the sun. If you were that cyclist I do apologize, all be it belatedly. But I’m not quite sure what you expected me to do. Follow you all the way to Wasaga Beach if necessary?
Another pet peeve of mine is when I am out running on the Georgian Trail and cyclist comes flying past me from behind without ringing a bell or giving you a verbal warning. It occasionally scares the living crap out of me especially when I am zoned out running through the pain barrier at around the 20 …………. em ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, more like 5km mark.

Bike lanes, I think they are great on certain roads. The ones around Blue Mountain work quite well, until you get to Collingwood then they seem to just disappear. The bike talk started because I said that Hume St should not have bike lanes. This road is a pain in the arse at the best of times so never mind about bike lanes make it work for cars first. Being as it is a main entrance into town. There should be two routes developed for bike traffic to navigate through town. One is the trail that goes through Sunset Beach and seems to just end at the water treatment plant. This should be expanded and enhanced so that it takes people through to the residential neighborhoods behind the east end car dealerships and beyond to join with the old Highway 26 which should now have designated bike lanes all the way to Wasaga Beach. The other route would be along the old railway tracks for people to use from the south side of town all the way to where they end behind Sandford Fleming then extended to around Blue Mountain Chrysler to a pedestrian controlled stop to cross Highway 26 then again across to the Beachwood Ave (old highway 26). Also rather than spending money on creating bike lanes on existing roads spend the money on the existing trail system to make them more accessible to bikes like having a designated paved bike lane on all the trails within town limits.

Another major pet peeve of mine is at the west end of town when you run or cycle from the town water front trails to get to the Georgian Trail next to Canadian Tire. There is no designated crosswalk to get across Highway 26 near the river/drainage channel. The times I have taken my life in my hands crossing that stretch of road

The above are just some ideas, I think you would agree they make a lot more sense than just blindly being politically correct and adding bike lanes that start nowhere and go nowhere.