Bike to Work & School Week (May 25 – 29) got many Bowen Island kids off the bus and onto their bikes. Last Friday saw more than bicycles dominating the school’s lone bike rack, which normally sees 5-10 bikes on any given day.
The catalyst to all this riding is likely BICS Outside45 bike trip to Gabriola Island in May. In preparation, many kids took to the roads before the trip to gain confidence for their ride. Prior to embarking on this trip, the classes participated in iRide, a program offered through Cycling BC. The course taught them about sharing the road, riding in groups and basic road safety techniques.
The trip was a success. That success, along with the great weather, has the kids feeling evermore confident on their bikes and they are showing up in droves on our roads. Bowen Island motorists are not used to seeing this sheer volume of cyclists including the summer day-trippers and locals alike.
As avid cyclists ourselves and parents of cycling kids, we would like to share the following information to help keep the roads safe for all of us. Most of this information is available on ICBC’s website. We’ve condensed it here for a quick refresher on sharing the road.
- Always actively look for cyclists on the roads. Wherever possible, make eye contact to let them know you have seen them. A cyclist often relies on eye contact as a means of communication as they try to anticipate your next move.
- Make yourself familiar with the hand signals that cyclists use. If you are not familiar with them visit ICBC’s website.
- Shoulder checking is very important, especially when making right-hand turns at intersections and before you open your door to get out of your vehicle.
- Drivers must yield to cyclists as they do any other vehicle and should maintain at least three seconds of following distance. Cyclists sometimes need to react quickly and unexpectedly to avoid hazards on the road so an increased distance will give you more time to safely react.
A few additional tips more relevant to Bowen Island:
- Honking your horn at a cyclist is only necessary if you need to give them a warning. A loud honk could startle them, cause them to fall or swerve towards your car.
- If you want to pass a cyclist, be patient. It is only safe to do so when there is not an oncoming car in the opposite lane. A significant number of crashes result from sideswiping. You can pass a cyclist if you are not on a hill or coming around a curve in the road. If you cannot see if there are oncoming cars, as is often the case on Bowen, do not pass a cyclist.
- Slow down. Speeding past a cyclist may make them nervous. If you cannot pass them without speeding in order to avoid oncoming traffic, then wait for a better opportunity to pass.Cyclists should ride one meter away from the ditches, curbs, and parked cars to avoid getting hit by opening doors and for better visibility. Allow them this space.
Share the road.
