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Montréal à vélo (#181)

5 April 2011 by OffQc

Nicer weather is on the way, and that means the streets of Montreal will soon be full of cyclists qui se promènent en vélo. Many of those cyclists will be riding a bike from une station BIXI. Une station BIXI is where you can borrow a bike in exchange for a fee. You can see an image here. If you don’t have a bike of your own, you can always prendre un vélo BIXI instead.

But… cyclists and drivers aren’t always the best of friends. On 98,5 FM yesterday morning, listeners were reminded by Cécile Gladel of some of the dangers that come along with cycling in a city like Montreal.

One of those dangers:

Les portes qui s’ouvrent!
Opening doors!

That’s right — you’re riding along gleefully when, all of a sudden, il y a un automobiliste qui ouvre la porte de sa voiture. Il ne regarde même pas dans le rétroviseur. Ayoille! The last thing you want to do is foncer dans une porte qui s’ouvre. Ouch!

What do you do? Pour éviter la porte, vous faites un petit écart, or a “little swerve.” But guess what? The driver on your other side risks running into a gaping Montreal-style pothole, un gros nid-de-poule! Et, bien sûr, pour éviter ce gros nid-de-poule, l’automobiliste vous coupe la route: he cuts you off!

Luckily, some parts of Montréal are equipped with des pistes cyclables, or bike paths. Mais même lorsque vous utilisez une piste cyclable, you still need to watch out for those automobilistes qui vous coupent la route when you pass through an intersection.

Some drivers won’t check their blind spot, l’angle mort, before making a turn at an intersection. If the driver doesn’t see you quand vous arrivez dans l’angle mort de l’automobiliste — paf! vous foncez dans la voiture!

On 98,5 FM, Cécile Gladel reminded cyclists de ne pas rouler sur les trottoirs (to not ride on the sidewalks) et de ne pas rouler à contresens dans une rue à sens unique (and to not ride against the traffic in a one-way street).

Amusez-vous bien, mais soyez vigilants dans la jungle urbaine!

[This entry was inspired by Marie Plourde and Cécile Gladel, Isabelle le matin, 98,5 FM, Montreal, 4 April 2011.]

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