Cycling in Waterloo Region

[DHLawrence]

My driving instructor told me that midnight blue was worse than black for nighttime visibility.

[Canard]

Hmm, I can't imagine how that'd be possible.

The most visible colour, from what I understand, is that tennis-ball lime green colour that airport fire trucks are painted - in fact, that's why they're painted that colour.



In fact, one of my vehicles is also this colour.

[panamaniac]

I don't know about you guys, but I would look TERRIBLE in that colour!

[Elmira Guy]

It would be a bit much.

[BuildingScout]

I don't know about you guys, but I would look TERRIBLE in that colour!

I  have a Borat bikini in that colour.  

[MidTowner]

I guess the discussion on clothing colour choices would be more appropriate in the 'Walking' thread, but it's already here. I have a polo shirt in Safety Orange that I bought as a joke when I used to walk to the office, after reading an article I couple of years ago in which a police officer was quoted blaming the victim of a hit and run, since the victim had dared to walk in clothing that didn't provide "very good visibility." It is a terrifically bad shirt, but I still occasionaly wear it. When I get a ribbing about it from someone, I can tell the story why I own it ("the police think I should wear high vis when walking").

It's sad to think we would need to wear any particular type of clothing to be safer when walking around a city, and I don't think anyone should propose it is any kind of solution. But, things as they are, it's probably prudent to avoid wearing entirely dark colours when possible, particularly at this time of year.

[timc]

What boggles my mind is, though - if it's dark out, and your headlights aren't on... neither are the interior instrumentation cluster lights.  So you can't even see your speedometer.  How is that not a clue to turn them on?!

Unfortunately, this is not true. Some vehicles have an illuminated instrument panel regardless of whether the exterior lighting is on or off. For some, the only difference is a small indicator light. Sometimes you don't even get that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/advice/a...turned-on/

[tomh009]

In fact, one of my vehicles is also this colour.

Ahh, so that's your lime-green Smart that I have been seeing! 

[Canard]

...Not so much lately Damn seized glow plug... but yeah. There aren't too many "stream green" cdi's around

[tomh009]

It's sad to think we would need to wear any particular type of clothing to be safer when walking around a city, and I don't think anyone should propose it is any kind of solution. But, things as they are, it's probably prudent to avoid wearing entirely dark colours when possible, particularly at this time of year.

When I was a kid, we were admonished to always have reflectors attached to our coats (back then the coats themselves weren't reflective yet).  A kid in dark clothing is really not very visible on a dark street.

Nor is a bicyclist in dark clothing and without lights, to bring this back to the forum topic.

[tomh009]

...Not so much lately Damn seized glow plug... but yeah. There aren't too many "stream green" cdi's around

I'm guessing there are two in K-W ...

[MidTowner]

When I was a kid, we were admonished to always have reflectors attached to our coats (back then the coats themselves weren't reflective yet).  A kid in dark clothing is really not very visible on a dark street.

Nor is a bicyclist in dark clothing and without lights, to bring this back to the forum topic.

Cyclists need to be seen by others for their own safety, but also for the safety of those others. A cyclist at speed doesn’t have enough visibility in many conditions to see things in time to react to them- a lot of bicycle lights aren’t positioned to improve that by very much, but at least the light makes them visible to people on foot who need to see them.

[danbrotherston]

When I was a kid, we were admonished to always have reflectors attached to our coats (back then the coats themselves weren't reflective yet).  A kid in dark clothing is really not very visible on a dark street.

Nor is a bicyclist in dark clothing and without lights, to bring this back to the forum topic.

Cyclists need to be seen by others for their own safety, but also for the safety of those others. A cyclist at speed doesn’t have enough visibility in many conditions to see things in time to react to them- a lot of bicycle lights aren’t positioned to improve that by very much, but at least the light makes them visible to people on foot who need to see them.

Nobody, whether on bike, or in a car, should be overrunning their braking distance.

[BuildingScout]

When I was a kid, we were admonished to always have reflectors attached to our coats (back then the coats themselves weren't reflective yet).  A kid in dark clothing is really not very visible on a dark street.

In Belgium, back in the day kids school knapsacks had to have reflectors by law. I don't know if it is still the case today.

[danbrotherston]

I wasn't really sure where to post this, but the Northdale Streetscape has a lot of bike infrastructure planned:

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6928...reetscape/

The plan is pretty interesting, and I'm glad they've done holistic planning for the whole neighbourhood. It seems like a good design. The biggest issues I see are that the scope was too limited (probably by necessity). There needs to be a connection from Hickory to Phillip/UW and the LRT/Bus Terminal at the Davis Centre, and pedestrian improvements are desperately needed on both Columbia and University.

Some Cycling Highlights:

• Segregated bike lanes on Albert from University to Columbia.

• Buffered bike lanes with "door zones and intermittent parking on both sides" -- So I'm pretty sure the record author doesn't know what a "door zone" is, because it's not really a feature. Hopefully, buffered lanes means there is a buffer between parked cars and bike lanes and hence, no door zone.

• Multi Use Trail on Hickory Street West from From King to Albert. I'm hoping this choice was intentional to allow the MUT to continue all the way to UW one day.

• The article also referred to shared vehicle/bike lanes on several roads. This still bugs me to no end. A "shared vehicle/bike lane" is also much more commonly know as a "lane". All lanes in the city are legally shared vehicle/bike lanes. Lets stop giving drivers the impression that cyclists don't have a right to use the lane in front of them.

• "Larch Street will be a shared roadway with parking." -- This seems like a great place to try out this new concept. Hope it goes well.