Most veteran cyclists are careful and generally follow the rules, but a growing minority of e-newbies are giving cyclists a bad name.
For decades, Montreal roads were nerve-racking places because too many motorists were reckless cowboys who treated red lights as “go slow” signs and speed limits as suggestions.
I was biking home late at night last week when I saw an e-Bixi coming the wrong way, in the dark. His helmet had a small flasher so I could see him as we grew close.
Then suddenly I heard a loud bark. As my eyes squinted into the darkness, I saw a large, black dog, attached to a long, black leash two feet in the air, stretching from the cyclist’s hand right across my path.
I swerved, slammed on my brakes and missed the leash and dog by inches, then screamed at the casually departing e-biker: “Get a light — for your dog! He’s invisible!”
It’s one of several incidents I’ve had this summer when growing swarms of novice e-bikers and e-scooter riders sometimes scare me silly, whether I’m biking, walking or driving.
Two nights later, I was in my car turning a corner beside a bus. Suddenly an electric scooter kid with no lights, dressed entirely in black, sped between our turning vehicles so near my open window I could have given him a shave with my electric razor.
I swerved away, scared of squeezing him into the bus. But he raced on, oblivious, looking for other drivers to frighten.
I spend as much time biking as driving my car, and both BikeJosh and CarJosh are having too many close calls.
Most veteran cyclists are careful and generally follow the rules, but a growing minority of e-newbies are giving cyclists a bad name.
Electric Bixi and e-scooter riders blast through red lights and stop signs without glancing either way. Or race the wrong way up busy St-Laurent Blvd. in the dark, weaving between cars like slalom skiers.
Teenage e-bikers careen by at high speed, passing on the right without any warning.
Many e-bikes are almost silent, so you don’t hear them until it’s practically too late — or later. I wish they made an artificial warning sound, like a Harley Davidson motorcycle Vro-o-o-om.
Many riders wear earbuds and can’t hear you, either, while some stare at their phones with both hands off the handlebars so they can type. They’re confident in their circus-style balance, but I’m not as they cruise past hands-free on narrow bike paths.
I’m a big fan of bikes and bike paths, but it’s chaos out there.
E-bikes and other gizmos are great inventions luring more people from their cars, but too many riders are e-cowboys who don’t know basic road rules.
For instance: You DON’T pass other cyclists on the right, they don’t expect you there. But if you do, at least ding your bell, or say “on your right,” or shout “GANGWAY! It’s me!”
Even that’s better than the underaged e-biker who whipped by on my right last month and whacked my arm so heavily we both almost fell.
I never knew biking was a contact sport.
DON’T dress in funereal black at night, with no lights, and assume motorists see you; we often can’t in the glare of other car lights.
And please, wear a helmet. Use your head and protect it.
DON’T blast through red lights like Gilles Villeneuve when a car or pedestrian is crossing, even though you’re sure you can make it. You terrify motorists and pedestrians who worry you won’t.
Two young 30-somethings I know are anxious when pushing their kid’s stroller across Plateau intersections because e-bikers often blast through reds. Both are longtime cyclists, now seething at fellow e-cyclists.
I’m not a hardliner about road rules. I’m a lifetime jaywalker and a cyclist who often cruises through quiet stop signs — carefully.
Most bike riders don’t fully stop at every intersection, anywhere in the world, as they’d never get rolling.
But if you’re going to make an “Idaho stop,” a slowly rolling stop to maintain momentum, look both ways to make sure you’re not cutting off a baby stroller.
What can city hall do to calm the chaos? Electric vehicles are motorized, so if you don’t have a driver’s licence, you should need a quick afternoon course on “E-cycling for Dummies.”
Bike paths should be rigorously reserved for light vehicles, not motorcycles or large motor scooters that are increasingly using them as e-xpressways.
Last week, a golf cart sped by me on the Lachine Canal bike path — what next, a Winnebago?
Perhaps our bicycle cops could start ticketing some reckless e-cyclists like they do drivers, or send them off for cyclotherapy.
If we want more people to switch from cars to two wheels, biking has to be a safe and civilized activity.
Not an extreme sport.