Those were my words to the Calgary Police officer this morning.
To back up a bit, the City of Calgary is putting a lot of effort into making the City bike-friendly. This includes a comprehensive set of bicycle paths all around the city and even bicycle- and pedestrian-only bridges over the rivers. But the downtown core is not bike-friendly. The streets are split into maximum numbers of vehicle lanes, with no bike lanes. For the first while when I would arrive at the Core, I would dismount and walk the five blocks or so to work.
But the City is working to improve it, with a circuit of bike lanes that don’t go down every street, but at least give the ability to cross town. The first of these have opened, including a dedicated bike “street within a street” up 7th St. My office is at 6th Ave and 7th St., so it is a very convenient route. Since it opened last week, I have used it regularly.
However, with my switch from walking in to riding in, I obviously didn’t bother to engage my brain. As I turned on to the bike lane, there was a police officer standing and talking to another cyclist. He motioned for me to stop and when the other cyclist left, he pointed out to me that they were doing an education program with the new lane. Then he pointed out that I had rolled through the 4-way stop when turning on to the bike lane.
So he gave me a warning that next week they would be handing out tickets, at $285 a pop for the same.
So, I meant it when I said “Thanks for the warning.”
Wow! That’s a serious fine.
I know. Between smashing my iPhone and potential traffic fines, this riding to work thing sure isn’t very cost-effective! 😉
I wish they would do that here. I can’t count the number of times a cyclist has turned right on a red light or stop sign without stopping as I am driving through the intersection.
Good thing you happened upon their training day! How are the new bikes working out for you and Tammy? Yes, I realize you are not using the new bike for work.