Early last weekend I rode the Gatineau Parkways and at one point a fast flock of riders blew by. They came up from behind so quiet and quick that it was a bit of a shock. A gang like this is called a peleton which means “little ball” (think pellet) and is related to the word platoon.
Well it seems that riding like that is agin’ the rules under normal circumstances in Gatineau Park and people can get tickets for it.
“Normal circumstances” don’t always apply though. Sometimes special permits are issued, such as for Tuesday A-Loops where registered cyclists can ride in a peleton under special conditions. One of those special conditions wasn’t in place this past Tuesday (insurance I believe) and so the peleton that insisted on forming wasn’t strictly okey-dokey. As a result the event organizers are trying to get the word out to all hard core cyclists that they should respect the rules of the road or risk making it tougher to get those special event permits.
The cards that GuideGatineau has begun distributing to promote the website are considered to be highly environmentally responsible due to the fact that the paper used is 100% recycled and is produced using energy from biofuels plus the ink is vegetable based.
Perhaps we should write the traffic codes to be more bike friendly. We have spent the last century or so building our cities with cars as the dominant means of transport and seem to have lost site that pedestrians, cyclists, skate boarders, in-line skaters and others have a claim on the roads as well.
The highway traffic code is motor vehicle centric. We could, if we choose, permit peletons on the road. It is not that scary. And one might argue that a pack of cyclists is a bit safer for everyone.
And since we are on the topic: we could declare red lights as stop signs and stops signs as yields for cyclists. This is done in some jurisdictions, and appears to be the accepted convention by the police n many more.
But this is wishful thinking…
Sigh…