Yesterday my article on the wasted efforts of the anti-Terrebonne bike path folk got some numbers.
Maybe we need to keep up the conversation on things relative to the local Facebook group. I didn’t share the article myself, so I feel real good about the overall reaction. There was a comment that brought up the Fielding bike path situation and it got me thinking.
Does anyone else find it terrifying to turn onto Fielding when the parking spots are full?
Now that I’m a driver I’m seeing the world from a whole new set of PRSPCTVS and I’m super worried about getting hit by a car I couldn’t see.
Let’s chat about bike paths some more.
One day the parked cars were outside the bike path
It’s clear this is a move for the safety of the cyclists.
I failed to find an article explaining why this is safer, or anything to justify it. Due to time constraints we’ll just have to assume it’s a safer option to have a barrier of parked cars between a cyclist and traffic. Up until November, I never thought much of the swaperoo of bike paths and parked cars.
I remember before it happened and having 0 fear as a cyclist on Fielding (I get it the world is bigger than me but these are my views).
Then one day the switch was made and now we park more in the road in the summer and less in the road in the winter.
Pulling onto Fielding mid-block with parked cars so far out is scary
My girlfriend will kill me if I give out our exact address, but suffice it to say it’s in one of those buildings that has a driveway off Fielding.
There is also parking on the block so there are cars deep in the street on either side of the narrow opening my car passes through. During the day, I cannot actually see if there are cars coming until I have inched my way up past the bike path (blocking it). At night you can kind of see headlights between the parked cars and it’s easier.
The other day I watched a guy inch out and nearly get hit by another car, who had to swerve into Fielding to avoid the collision.
There’s some real visibility issues turning onto Fielding, especially because people park on the edges of streets like Fielding/Rosedale all the time.
Maybe this isn’t really an issue.
Do other people also find this bike path/parked car configuration difficult to navigate?
This article is sincere.
I’ve had several moments where I feared an accident was about to happen. I know I have to look before going but you more or less have to drive into the middle of the street just to see if a car is coming. Then it could be too late.
Maybe I’m exaggerating out of my own insecurity. I feel it’s worth acknowledging this could be a me thing.
Do you also find it scary with this current layout? Is it actually safer?
I did see in my brief Googling that people had the same anti bike path arguments when a much smaller number of spots were removed on Fielding for a bike path, back in 2019.
Nothing will change, but at least I got to share how I feel with all of you.
Nobody cares about bike paths in my life
Outside of this one Facebook group I’m a part of, nobody in my immediate circles cares about bike path stuff.
For the most part, people feel how they feel and acknowledge the mayor is going to do as she does. Maybe people will be more politically inclined in the future. They probably won’t.
Most people I talk to about issues like the Terrebonne bike path find the level of severity humorous. Despite the fact many of these fine folk have good reasons to be mad, they are legitimately going to be inconvenienced, it comes off like a joke to the greater population. A nice lady left a longass comment on my last post with plenty of good reasons to hate the Terrebonne bike path, she has good points.
Since the only people that care for me exist on social media, I figured I’d throw this one into the universe too.
Thanks for reading everyone.LIve Long and Prosper Everyone
P.S. I’ll go back to a more regular, non bike path content tomorrow.