10-17-2016, 12:15 PM
(10-16-2016, 08:11 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Making a law that is intended to be broken is bad policy. We already know we won't be enforcing it anyway. Sadly, we already do this far too often, the multi-use paths are actually very good example of this. And having laws which are intended to be broken I believe is a major cause of people not following the rules, if one rule is made to be broken, why not all of them.
Another problem is, speed limit doesn't mean courteous behaviour, and everyone's idea's of courteous behaviour is different. I could pass a pedestrian way too close at 20 km/h, and make them feel very uncomfortable. Other pedestrians are simply uncomfortable being on the trail with bikes at all.
Building better infrastructure is the best way to reduce these "dangerous" interactions. Come out to the Iron Horse Trail Improvement consultation and demand a wider trail than is being planned. That's a real change that would make the trail safer and more comfortable, and functional for all users.
And do keep the scope of "dangerous" in mind, I have frequent "dangerous" interactions with cars. I far far more worried about that than I am about the occasional road cyclist who zips past me too close on the trail. Objectively I know one poses a far greater danger to my safety and well being than the other.
We have all sorts of laws that are enforced with discretion. I don't always agree with how they are enforced, but to claim that they are useless as a result is a bit of an exaggeration. What is important is that the police have some sort of law they can use against the most reckless users, otherwise there is absolutely no oversight at all. Better infrastructure is nice, but it's not an either-or situation.
20 kph is a reasonable speed limit on a MUP. Just like with speed limits on the road, no one is going to be chasing after people going 25 kph, or likely even 30 kph. But around pedestrians, speeds like that are not safe. You cannot react quickly enough to unexpected reactions from pedestrians at 30+kph and I have enough experience dodging pedestrians when I'm running at much lower speeds to know to avoid them entirely when I'm on my road bike.