Cycling in Waterloo Region

[dtkvictim]

Saw (or rather, heard) a cyclist get hit by a taxi at the Gaukel to Victoria Park crossing the other night. I was a few blocks down Joseph so I didn't see how it happened, and I'm not prepared to blame either party, but I would suggest the current infrastructure might be to blame. Right now the stop sign for cars is on the left side, near the park entrance, and not very visible for cars approaching it around a bend. I've personally seen a higher number of cars run this stop sign than can be blamed on just a few exceptionally bad drivers (I cross here almost every day, and it happens a lot...).

I hope the signage will be improved here, but it's a shame to see happen in a place that should be friendly to cyclists and pedestrians (a pedestrian street, segregated bike lane, and a park).

The signage suggests it will be a L2 PXO but probably one without a flashing beacon. 

The stop sign may be not visible but it's pretty clearly an intersection and it was a stop before. I don't give drivers much credibility for missing it. They should do better but yes, a large number run it. Of course, a large number ran it before also.

This would have been a good place for a raised crossing IMO. I think the number of cars running it has gotten significantly worse. I also wouldn't depend on people knowing it used to be a stop. Here is the current view approaching drivers have


Sure, there is a "Stop for pedestrians" sign, but honestly I think only like 5% of the driving population actually registers these. The higher than 5% compliance is just people "being polite" and letting you cross.