Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

Okay, this is more of a cycling question, not totally winter related.

When I travel inside a roundabout, I try to keep an eye on the exit, in case of pedestrians or cyclists. The other day, when travelling towards Stirling on Homer Watson (at Ottawa), there was a cyclist who had not yet crossed the road. I came to a quick stop to allow him to proceed, and he was motioning me to proceed, which I ignored, since I already stopped. He then proceeded to cross Homer Watson.

So I am under the assumption that pedestrians and cyclists have right of way, hence why we shouldn't take a roundabout at 100 KPH like some drivers. My assumption is correct, right? The cyclist seemed annoyed that I stopped for him.

Hmm. There's a crosswalk right? Cyclists technically don't have the right of way on a crosswalk when on their bicycle and they could get charged if hit by a car. There are sometimes crossrides in a few places which should be more certain.

More realistically I always don't quite trust that people will stop their cars even if I do have right of way.

This is correct, cyclists do not have the right of way unless there are crossride markings (and peds do not have the right of way when there are not PXO markings). I hate it when drivers stop when they have the right of way, and I will usually also refuse to go. In many cases it is more dangerous and means that if anything does go wrong I, as the person who does not have the right of way, will automatically be at fault.

I even had a police officer stop for me once when I was waiting on the ped island on Weber st, one of the most dangerous places for a driver to stop improperly. He pulled up and rolled down his window and asked why I wasn't going when he let me go. I explained that if I went and someone in the other lane (which I might not see behind his giant SUV) hit me, he'd be right here to give me a ticket for crossing improperly. On the IHT I've had cars stop and wait and then cars behind them overtake on the wrong side of the road which is amazing because I was looking the other way.  The only reason I wasn't hit was because the driver who stopped improperly had the wherewithal to honk. Even more annoying when I am on a bike and turning left very often when the light goes green oncoming drivers will "try to be nice" and let me go.  Which of course from my perspective looks exactly the same as a driver on their phone at a light, who will see the green and stomp on the gas without seeing me. And again, my fault. 

Ultimately it's incredibly frustrating when drivers don't follow the right of way laws. But in their defense our right of way laws are pessimal. They maximize both delay AND danger. Doubly so for roundabouts where peds have right of way but cyclists do not.