Berkeley traffic diverter at Grant St/Berkeley Way
To everyone saying, "How oh how do we stop Google Maps cut-through traffic??"
...I present to you the solution, which we've had for 50 years in Berkeley.
Spring Bloom Summit Ridge Or Bike Map WARD 1 GUELPH effrey or astview Rd Starwood Dr Washburn Dr Edwards St DougallS. Edwards Carter Park heltonwood Dr Auden Rd Greenview CHERRY MAGNOLIA REDBUD ORCHARD OR CRAB APPLE "CATWALK" (CUT THROUGH) PEDESTRIAN CROSSOVER Mountford Dr _Mcllwraith Cres Hadati Rd Auden Rd Rete Misersky Park •Mountford Dr Leacoc BYCS GUELPH Victoria R MAY 3 2026 | 10:30AM START: CARTER PARK FINISH: SUMMIT RIDGE PARK BICYCLE MAYOR OF GUELPH WARD RIDES @BICYCLEMAYORGUELPH Paleimo "Park Auden Rd THIS ROUTE WAS PLANNED USING THE CITY OF GUELPH OPEN DATA TREE MAP. FILTERING FOR EARLY SPRING BLOOMERS. COME DISCOVER WHAT'S IN BLOOM IN WARD 1 WITH US, OR USE IT AS YOUR GUIDE. HELMETS ARE MANDATORY FOR RIDERS UNDER 18 AND STRONGLY ENCOURAGED FOR EVERYONE.
How lucky are we to have @bicyclemayorguelph.bsky.social? Come ride Ward 1 with us on May 3rd, 10:30am and see some blooms!
The vulnerable road user vs personal vehicle culture war is, at its core, a struggle over what a city is for. Is it a pipeline for private convenience, or a shared public space for human life? Until that question is answered differently, the conflict will keep repeating itself. #Urbanism #Bikesky
so thoroughly around one group’s comfort that any friction turns priority into a perceived right, and actually sharing a shared space into a personal grievance.
create a greater moral claim to public space than someone walking, rolling, or biking in the rain.
This is bigger than individual rudeness.
It is about social norms, entitlement, design, and what happens when a system is built
But the person outside the car becomes background. An obstacle. A delay. A problem to get past.
That is one of the deepest distortions of car dominance: it does not just shape movement. It shapes moral perception.
Paying for gas, insurance, repairs, parking, and maintenance does not
“I’m used to driving this way” becomes “this is the natural order.” “I pay for a car” becomes “I deserve priority.” “My time matters” becomes “your vulnerability is secondary.”
The driver still feels fully human to themselves: I’m tired. I’m late. I just want to get home.
That roads are mainly for moving cars efficiently, and everyone else is an interruption, or worse an obstacle.
It also teaches people to mistake habit for necessity...
Yet so often, it seems like the person with the most protection acts like they are the one suffering the greatest injustice for slowing down or simply waiting their turn.
Car culture teaches us that speed is normal. That directness is deserved. That delay is a personal offense.
The person outside the car is cold, soaked, maybe carrying bags, managing kids, trying to see without the luxury of a windshield and wipers while on a bike, all just trying to get home with their body fully in the elements.
The person inside the car is dry, enclosed, seated, heated, and protected
A thing I keep noticing: some drivers do not just struggle with inconvenience. They seem unable to tolerate even slight discomfort if it means yielding to someone more exposed.
One of the most visible imbalances is in poor weather...
A lot of “bike debates” are really about hierarchy. Drivers are expected. Cyclists are treated like intruders. Pedestrians are tolerated right up until they slow the machine down.
#Urbanism #TransportationEquity #VunerableRoadUsers
Next, and last, is Traffic Calming Policy Update. Chair Klassen takes over with a presentation by:
Nico Koenig, Transportation Safety Specialist
Liraz Fridman, Road Safety Supervisor
Steve Anderson, Manager, Transportation Engineering
The real standard for a good city is not whether it maximizes convenience for the already comfortable. It is whether it expands dignity for the most vulnerable. We owe each other a city where housing is possible, transit is reliable, streets are safe and public life belongs to the public.
#Urbanism
Bikes are faster than walking, cheaper than driving, and more direct than transit. What’s not to like?
Purple billboard with two bikes: These machines fight traffic
These machines fight traffic.
Our @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social billboard is live.
The bike is often just the trigger.
The real argument is about what kind of city we owe each other.
#Urbanism #Bikesky #ActiveTransportation #VulnerableRoadUsers
Free curbside parking may feel convenient to motorists, but it can block sightlines, crowd sidewalks, and take up land that could serve many more people.
#Urbanism #Bikesky #ActiveTransportation #TransportationEquity #VulnerableRoadUsers
A street can be built to maximize vehicle throughput, or it can be built to maximize human safety, access, and dignity. Those goals are not always compatible. A high-speed turn that feels smooth for a driver feels terrifying to a pedestrian in the crosswalk.
If more room is made for safety, something else often shrinks: parking, turning space, lane width, speed, or convenience. Drivers experience that as a loss. While vulnerable road users experience the lack of protection as a threat to life.
#Urbanism #Bikesky
The moment protected infrastructure appears, that assumption gets challenged. Suddenly people are not just reacting to paint or bollards. They are reacting to the loss of priority they were taught to see as normal. That is why these conversations get so emotionally charged. Street space is finite.
A bike lane is never only a bike lane.
It is a public decision about who streets are for. For decades, cities have been designed around the assumption that cars should move quickly, store easily, take up most of the room and be considered the default.
A city tells the truth about itself through its design. If the safest way to move through it requires a car, then freedom has been quietly tied to income and ability.
#Urbanism #TransportationEquity #VulnerableRoadUsers
Car dominance is so deeply baked into everyday life that it disappears into the background. Speeding, blocked crosswalks, unsafe turns, long crossing distances, and hostile roads get filed under “just traffic.”
#Urbanism #Bikesky #VulnerableRoadUsers #ActiveTransportation
while staying quiet about speeding vehicles, slip lanes, missing sidewalks, huge turning radii, or blocked curb cuts, then pedestrian safety is not really their core value. It is an argument they are borrowing to defend the status quo.
#Urbanism #Bikesky #VulnerableRoadUsers #ActiveTransportation
“What about pedestrians?” is so often used selectively. Pedestrians absolutely matter. Cyclists can make walking feel unsafe, and that should be taken seriously. But if someone only invokes pedestrians when attacking bikes...
A lot of people only discover their concern for pedestrians or accessibility when cyclists and infrastructure are the villain.
Meanwhile:
speeding cars are normal
blocked crosswalks are normal
unsafe intersections are normal
sidewalks that are cracked and unleveled are normal...
Winter reminds us that accessibility isn’t optional, it’s essential!
Blocked ramps, snowed-in bus stops, and buried crosswalk buttons can completely cut people off from daily life.
If you spot an accessibility barrier report it
519-837-5648 | operations@guelph.ca | guelph.ca/snow
#WinterWednesday
