Bike lanes

Yes bicycles are vehicles and properly allowed on roads (and people on bikes should stop at stop signs etc but that's a different point).



That agreed, it is obvious that when bikes and trucks and cars share a road there will be collisions. Forget who's to blame -- when a truck and bike collide the bike loses. And someone often dies.



So the idea is raised of bike lanes. Which seem sensible at first. But they are a very partial solution at best.



Bike lanes on the side (or centre) of mixed use roads are often blocked by delivery vans. Or careless, or selfish, motor vehicle drivers drive on the bike lane. Worse, the lanes tend to end abruptly where traffic is most dense and most dangerous. And of course bike lane in mixed use roads must cross other roads and collisions are very possible there.



What is needed is not bike lanes but dedicated bicycle paths. These are not with problems -- pedestrians walk on them (why? a death wish? or just foolishness?). And bicycle paths have an economic cost.



But bicycle paths are narrow, much cheaper than mixed use roads and bridges over mixed use roads can be fairly modest as they will not carry heavily loaded trucks.



As for the question "where?" look at a city map -- electric tower corridors are a good start. Next to major highways (not scenic but available land). Perhaps even converting side streets into one way for mixed used and (with a barrier) the other half for bicycles.



Now, all that said I am not for a "war on the car". The way Canadian cities (well, many of them) are built the car is required. And in Toronto, though I use the TTC daily, there are certain trips (even in the city) that are practical only by car.