Urban assault vehicles

[RickO]

I have to agree with Costa's editorial in the July issue.

When I lived in Barrie I was putting between ten and fifteen thousand kilometres a year on my bike, largely because I could be out of town and tooling down a scenic country road at 80 kmph within minutes of hitting the starter button.

I moved back to my old hometown -- Toronto -- in 1994 and except for a trip to Whitehorse in 1997, my annual mileage began to plummet. It was the traffic. I had to leave town before sunrise on a Saturday morning to avoid tie-ups and a relaxing weekend away was always ruined by the trip back into town Sunday night. It got so bad that the only riding I was doing was back and forth to my job as an instructor at Humber College. When I quit teaching, the bike sat unused and gathering dust. I came close to selling it and being without a motorcycle for the first time in almost thirty years.

In April we moved to Paris, Ontario. Traffic can get busy downtown, even in a town of 10,000, but only at certain times of day and it never escalates to road-rage levels. All around are wide open country roads. I do a right turn out of my driveway, another right and then a left and within a kilometre I am outside the city limits. The bike is back on the road.

The ironic thing about Costa's editorial is that there are four ads within close proximity: The KTM 990 Super Duke on the inside front cover, the Victory Vegas Low on page 7 right beside the editorial, the Aprilia Shiver 750 on page 9, the Ducati Monster on page 11, plus the Triumph Speed Triple on page 65 that picture the bike against a stereotype urban backdrop of grungy warehouses, glass and steel towers or concrete overpasses and guardrails. Even the subscription form for the magazine itself on page 67 includes a view of office towers at night.

Apparently, marketers feel that the 25 to 35 year-old, urban professional demographic they are targeting crave the danger and competitive nature of city riding. I guess images of wide-open spaces and winding country roads hold no appeal for the video game generation.

[RB1]

Costa's editorial struck a chord with me as well. I've seen so many close calls with bikes and cars this year that I need to be 100% sharp before I take the bike out. I've seen a lot of scooter riders that quite honestly should not be on the road. They have bought into the cheap transportation/high mileage thing, but they sure aren't skilled riders. I guess for some there is no license required, is that right? Gives me the shivers watching them.
Getting home from work frazzled and tired means the bike sits more than it used to.

[Malks]

I understand the concerns regarding riding in larger cities as my job requires me to drive around Toronto on a daily basis. Some of the actions I have seen make you wonder if most Toronto drivers even know or care about the rules of the road. It's the little things like looking where you are going and paying more attention to driving than that cell phone call.

I agree that if I were faced with a 30+ minute ride just to get out of the city, I would have to think twice about an evening ride. Living in Orangeville, I am less than 10 minutes away from Hockley Valley Road, so I can go for a short ride and be on some very nice roads in a matter of minutes.

While I do not live in a large city, I use my bike to commute into TO at least twice a week. Most of the ride takes place on secondary roads, but I do use a section of the 401 on my way into the office near Yonge and Sheppard. Free motorcycle parking and taking the long way home to unwind are the benefits of motorcycle commuting.

I suppose moving out of the city years ago has allowed me to avoid being worn down by the ever increasing traffic, as I continue to enjoy riding whether it be commuting, an evening blast or a day-long ride with friends.

[RB1]

On the bright side I did have a good ride today. Several hours of uninterrupted riding, and not much traffic. There was even ice cream involved and later on a coffee too. The scheduled ride was to be to be an all day affair with a picnic lunch, but that didn't happen. No biggie.
Great to get out, looks like summer may have arrived just in time to salvage my sanity. Like there's enough left to even worry about.

[metalredneck]

While I don't live anywhere you would consider "urban", I have only been out for two rides this year due to traffic, home life, an unfinished project bike, and, worst of all, I find I just don't want to be lumped in with all the "New Bros" out there on their 45mph cruisers. I don't dig the direction this sport is headed, and, as I get more curmudgeonly, I enjoy my bicycle & my guitar more & more.

Any road rage against the "Southern Cruisers" this year, or have they started getting parade permits? Anyone?

Time to take up trials again.:mad:

[KZDon]

I don't really mean to defend Toronto drivers, whether they're in cars, trucks, SUVs, buses, or on bikes, but the entire commuting population of the GTA has been failed by government. The traffic chaos that pisses off people with better things to do than sit in their cars on the 407, Avenue Road, the DVP, whereever, could have been largely addressed by forward thinking planning.

It has been patently obvious that the city would continue to sprawl twenty-five years ago. Why hasn't the Toronto subway been extended out of Toronto proper? Where is the subway or rail link to the airport. The short run that is the Sheppard subway line is too short and came ten years later than it should have, yet it is busy and well used every day already. Subway lines ought to ring the city in addition to the one useful criss-cross in place. Rail lines ought to radiate out from the centre into the ever growing bedroom communities.

It's no wonder that people eat, drink, blackberry, do homework, do their hair, and anything else that needs to be done in their cars. They'd be doing it at home if they could get there.

[RickO]

I don't really mean to defend Toronto drivers, whether they're in cars, trucks, SUVs, buses, or on bikes, but the entire commuting population of the GTA has been failed by government. The traffic chaos that pisses off people with better things to do than sit in their cars on the 407, Avenue Road, the DVP, whereever, could have been largely addressed by forward thinking planning.

Absolutely right.

For a couple of years I commuted to Humber College near Hwy 27 and Finch from the Bathurst and Lawrence area. Every morning at 7AM, the 401 westbound would come to a complete standstill, express and collectors. It seems that every morning, an hour earlier at about 6AM, about 50,000 people leave Barrie and head south on the 400 at 100 kmph. Almost all of them are going to Mississauga and have to take the 401 west for a few klicks before turning off on the 427 southbound. I know because when I headed north on the 400 to Finch to get around the mess, the traffic for the 401 westbound off-ramp was backed all the way back to Sheppard and sometimes all the way to Finch.

I often thought how stupid it was to just dump the entire contents of the 400 southbound onto the 401, when a simple re-alignment a few kilometres to the west would connect it directly with the 427 and drivers could simply continue south. Too late now, guess we'll just have to widen it to 20 lanes and hope that works for a while...

[TimP]

'allo.

Stephane Dion of de Leeberal Party of Canada 'ere.

I suggess a carbon tax of, um, $1... no. $10 per car per day from Barrie to be depozit direct' into de accoun' of de Leeberal Party of Canada. Das a green (well, purple) solution I tink we all can liv wit.

'Dat solve your prolem in Toronto, and de Leeberal Party finance prolem in Ottawa better dan any Shawinigan or Calgary solution, eh?

Vote for me someday 'an I make it happen, ok?

[Uwe W.]

I wish this subject hadn't come up.

Those of us that live in Toronto are being dinged with an EXTRA tax: $60/car and $30/motorcycle that you plate, supposedly to help with road maintenance.

What really pisses me off is all the commuters from out of town don't pay a dime towards the roads they're wearing down in Toronto on a daily basis. They come in to the city everyday by car, one per vehicle, plug up the roads, make their money here, and then head back home at night leaving us locals to foot the bills.

Tim inadvertently is on to something, only I'd make one little change: I'd like to see toll booths on all highways coming into the city to raise funds for the failing infrastructure.

[Rocking Couple]

partial quote




Those of us that live in Toronto are being dinged with an EXTRA tax: $60/car and $30/motorcycle that you plate, supposedly to help with road maintenance.

What really pisses me off is all the commuters from out of town don't pay a dime towards the roads they're wearing down in Toronto on a daily basis.

On the other hand, their gas bills (which is mostly tax) has to subsidize a good portion of your costs in other ways.

But of course a lot of the problem with tax collection and distribution back into the system, lies with the almighty 'kitty' that it gets put into. As good as lost. Just try to trace the intricate trail..

[TimP]

Didn't Mayor Miller lose in his quest for $0.01 of that gas tax?

Loving to hate Toronto is a fair enough game, but biting the hand that feeds you often results in a kick in the ass.

Tolls are coming. You can tell because all the pundits say they're impractical and impossible to implement. I just want my transponders to identify me as a tax-paying resident so I don't get misidentified as a 905-er on my way back in from a big-boxland shopping spree.

[RickO]

I wish this subject hadn't come up.

Those of us that live in Toronto are being dinged with an EXTRA tax: $60/car and $30/motorcycle that you plate, supposedly to help with road maintenance.

What really pisses me off is all the commuters from out of town don't pay a dime towards the roads they're wearing down in Toronto on a daily basis. They come in to the city everyday by car, one per vehicle, plug up the roads, make their money here, and then head back home at night leaving us locals to foot the bills.

Tim inadvertently is on to something, only I'd make one little change: I'd like to see toll booths on all highways coming into the city to raise funds for the failing infrastructure.

When I was a Torontonian, I had the same frustrations. Those that commute to work in Toronto each day often pay their taxes elsewhere and leave behind only litter, sewage and exhaust fumes.

I had always assumed that Toronto traffic was the fault of Toronto drivers until a friend told me of an epiphany he had experienced while listening to a co-worker of his complaining about his daily commute from St. Catharines to Markham(!!) and going on about all the idiot Toronto drivers on the route. My friend suddenly blurted out: "Hey wait a minute, YOU are Toronto traffic!" Yes, it is very possible that those deadheads drifting into your lane while talking on their Blackberry, or cutting you off with just a middle finger as a signal are not from Toronto at all. It would be interesting to see what the stats are on car crashes and road-rage incidents in the Toronto area cross-referenced with the home addresses of those involved.

I too think that tolls are inevitable. I have followed the so-called "congestion tax" implemented in London, England with a great deal of interest. It was quite controversial before being passed into law (or by-law, I'm not sure which term applies) but reportedly has been so successful in unclogging London's arteries that the Lord Mayor is now being called a hero.

PS: I just escaped paying the extra $30 plate fee by moving out of Toronto, but if you ride your bike to work downtown the free motorcycle parking makes up for it in less than a week.

[Malks]

I for one will stop using the 400 series if there are tolls placed on them. Right now it must nearly be a life or death proposition before I will use the 407. Talk about a rip-off, the road was built with tax dollars and then sold for a loss and now it costs you dearly to sit in a traffic jam!

There have been many times when I have commuted to or from my job in TO without using a highway because the highways were gridlocked, or there is a closure caused by a crash. Fortunately my office is not in the downtown area and there are plenty of alternatives. If that bunch of left leaning council members decides to bring in a congestion tax similar what is in place in London England, hopefully it will not affect me because I do not need to drive south of the 401.

Hell, with the price of gas lately, I am seriously thinking of grabbing my pension and retiring at 53.

[TimP]

I do not need to drive south of the 401.

Hell, with the price of gas lately, I am seriously thinking of grabbing my pension and retiring at 53.

I hate to break it to you, Malks old buddy, but Yonge & Sheppard IS in Toronto, so if the tolls hit, even winding your way through Downsview won't help. We're gonna getcha!

p.s. What's a pension?

[Malks]

A pension is something that is very rare these days. Municipal workers and teachers are about the only ones left who have one. Oh yeah TTC as well, that's where I work.

If Miller and his left-wing bunch put tolls at Steeles Avenue, I will retire. Hell I could get a nice part time job up here and make almost as much as I do working full time. The savings in gas alone makes it very tempting.

[TimP]

It seems to me that asking people to pay for their own consumption (ie. if you use the roads, pay for the roads) is actually the more right-wing approach. The mindset that suggests Torontonians should provide roads free of charge to commuters from outlying communities is the more socialist approach.

It will be interesting to see what happens to property values in those outlying communities as it becomes increasingly expensive to get from where you live to where your job is. The whole basis of suburbia is predicated on the cheap fuel that allows commuting to be a rational choice. What's next? Will Toronto employers be expected to subsidize fuel for their commuting employees?

The irony is that my Toronto taxes continue to climb as market-value rises, and market value is rising because it's becoming so expensive to live outside and commute. I get penalized because I chose to live and work in my community.

And I don't have a pension...

[Rocking Couple]

Things are rarely fair.

I own and pay taxes on my property that gets regularly trespassed on by 416'rs and 905'rs who rent cabins in the area. I have to clean up their garbage, their drunken broken glass throwing, their cigarette butts and endure the risk of them setting fire to my property while they trespass and enjoy their 'free' nature walk. What do you think my rural bush would be worth if it was ravaged by fire by some thoughtless, ignorant f*ck who is so incredibly ignorant they think that; we, who live in tourist country, are all squatters and that these arrogant self-righteous assholes who threaten my life on the local roads with their boat trailer 1/2 in my lane, (with a cell phone glued to their head) or honk at me if I'm taking too long to refuel at the local gas station, (with a cell glued to their head) they think the taxes they pay at home give them free licence to do what the f*ck they like while they are up here. Yes, there are that many f*cking misinformed!

I have also paid taxes in the city.
And since, I can't even visit friends down there without enduring some ridiculous cheap shot, whether from a city cop, green hornet, or some low-life vandalizer beating on my car, or breaking apart some newspaper box for change outside my window at 3am in the morning. I pay here, AND I continue to pay there.

Things are rarely fair....be it in the left or right-winged camp.

and I don't have a pension either..

[TimP]

Speaking of fairness, you might want to post a whack of No Trespassing signs, Private Property signs and a big fence with a lock to keep those idiots out of your property. Although even that might not be enough.

Remember the kid who got hurt trespassing in the private quarry a few years back? He was rounding a corner on a dirt bike and flew head-on into another idiot on another bike, was paralyzed for life and awarded a huge settlement (which was later reduced, if I recall correctly).

The judge said the property owner was responsible because he did not take adequate precautions to keep the kids out. The fence, the locked gate and the posted Keep Out - Private Property signs were not enough to keep the kids from cutting a hole big enough to get their bikes through the fence and do stupid things. The property owner was told he should have patrolled regularly and closed any holes in the fence.

Maybe he should have set up a tollbooth...

[John]

Veering off topic...

"The judge said the property owner was responsible because he did not take adequate precautions to keep the kids out. The fence, the locked gate and the posted Keep Out - Private Property signs were not enough to keep the kids from cutting a hole big enough to get their bikes through the fence and do stupid things. The property owner was told he should have patrolled regularly and closed any holes in the fence."

We really need elected judges... It opens some cans of worms, sure, but gets rid of a lot of idiots. I have witnessed the pontifications of some judges that had the entire Court aghast. Some of these people's perceptions are so bent & their personal reality so removed from that of the rest of us that they serve no public good. Nothing frightens them greater than accountability. I'll go away now.

John.

[Malks]

The irony is that my Toronto taxes continue to climb as market-value rises, and market value is rising because it's becoming so expensive to live outside and commute. I get penalized because I chose to live and work in my community.

The real problem is that Toronto property taxes are still far too low to be able to cover the costs of all of those free services that people expect down there. Every time they talk about raising taxes to a sustainable level, the press trots out that 80 year old who would not be able to pay the increased taxes on that $500,000.00 house they live in. You know it's funny how other municipalities like York and Peel do not seem to have any trouble making ends meet with their property tax base without needing to go crying to the Province or Feds looking for more hand outs.

Here in Orangeville we pay just over $4000.00 a year on a home that is valued at far less than what you would have to pay in TO for anything bigger than a 700 square foot condo. For this cost we receive virtually no services and there are user fees on everything. My problem with paying extra for roads is that I have already paid for these roads with the taxes that make up the bulk of the cost for gasoline!

[KZDon]

Speaking of fairness, you might want to post a whack of No Trespassing signs, Private Property signs and a big fence with a lock to keep those idiots out of your property. Although even that might not be enough.

Remember the kid who got hurt trespassing in the private quarry a few years back? He was rounding a corner on a dirt bike and flew head-on into another idiot on another bike, was paralyzed for life and awarded a huge settlement (which was later reduced, if I recall correctly).

The judge said the property owner was responsible because he did not take adequate precautions to keep the kids out. The fence, the locked gate and the posted Keep Out - Private Property signs were not enough to keep the kids from cutting a hole big enough to get their bikes through the fence and do stupid things. The property owner was told he should have patrolled regularly and closed any holes in the fence.

Maybe he should have set up a tollbooth...

The press did a real disservice to the public when reporting on that case. In reality it was a very important case sending a message to absentee property owners who do nothing to ensure the safety of others who may be injured on their land. What was reported was a kid riding an overpowered dirtbike without proper gear, in a wreckless manner.

In the result, liability was divided between the various parties, and several years later, the $4M award against the property owner was reduced.

Oh, and the property owner was the municipality (Brampton, I think). The municipality was well aware of the uses being made of the vacant land, the easy access to the land, particularly for cyclists and dirtbikers, and the particular risks faced at the time the kid was hurt, but decided to ignore the problem.

[Uwe W.]

What ever happened to accountability? If some kid has enough brains to operate a dirt bike, he also has enough to realise where he was riding posed a risk to his safety.

I don't care what twisted logic was used to place liability on the landowner. People should be held responsible for their actions, and I find it incredulous that the courts are there to help divert the blame onto others. It's pathetic.

[Malks]

I agree 100% with you Uwe. Accountability is no longer applied, particularly in cases where someone is injured. The easiest way out is to blame someone else for allowing you to put yourself in the predicament, rather that accept the responsibility for your own actions.

A few "Private Property - No Trespassing" signs should be sufficient to tell people that the property is not for public use and to stay out. There should be no additional requirement for a land owner to erect a fence and then ensure that it is not damaged by people who choose to enter despite the warning signs.

If people want to enter your property there is not much you can do to stop them, even if you are present. Fences can be cut or knocked down quite easily and what would you do if you confront these people who ought to know they are trespassing? By the time the police arrive for this low priority call, the offenders (riding unlicensed dirt bikes), would be long gone and you would be stuck repairing your damaged fence.

I am not sure what message the courts are trying to convey to absentee landowners. Did the courts include conditions where these landowners would be able to protect themselves from liability from any future inappropriate and illegal use of their land?

[Groovy]

I've seen a lot of scooter riders that quite honestly should not be on the road. They have bought into the cheap transportation/high mileage thing, but they sure aren't skilled riders. I guess for some there is no license required, is that right? Gives me the shivers watching them.


How many scooters do you see getting into wrecks though? High speed pursuits? LOL :D