| Re: "City targets pathway violators," by Mark Sproxton, Out & About, August 4-10, 2005.
I have been really disappointed in the way that the media has been covering the issue of Calgary bylaw officers cracking down on speeding cyclists as I think that they are missing the bigger picture. As I commute from McKenzie Towne to downtown Calgary during the summer, I have come to realize that Calgary bike paths were never really constructed for bicycle commuters at all. Most often the pathway is indirect, full of blind spots, narrow in places, and more of a bridge between various communities rather than a means for bicycle commuting.
If we compare the bike paths offered in Ottawa, you will find that they have divided cyclists and all other traffic on two different pathway systems that run parallel down a major roadway leading to downtown. All other Ottawa community pathways feed directly into this major pathway. Another alternative is to add more bike lanes on city roadways, like the City of Kelowna, which currently boasts about their 220 kilometres of bike lanes for cyclists.
Both designs are an effective means to reduce accidents, provide cycling commuters with more options, and reduce the hours required by bylaw officers to police city pathways.
I don’t think going out each year to crack down on cyclists speeding through Eau Claire is truly an effective long-term plan to address this issue.
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