A compact footprint, simple street grid, one main street with a majority of destinations, and courteous drivers all combine to make Bradford a potential bastion for two-wheeled travel, so why does it seem so uncommon to see people riding bicycles on town streets?
BradfordToday decided to try cycling around town to see for ourselves why so many seem to only ride on road while outside of the urban area, sticking to the sidewalks while within it.
The first step is to make sure the trusty 18-speed is in good working condition with all the necessary safety equipment.
According to Cycling Skills: Ontario’s Guide to Safe Cycling, the Ontario Highway Traffic Act (HTA) requires bicycles to be equipped with: a bell/horn, white reflectors on the front forks and red reflectors on the rear. For riding in the dark or at dusk/dawn, a rear light and/or reflector is required as well as a front light.
That’s a big check to all those, which is good, because people can face fines for operating a bicycle without them.
Anyone younger than 18 is also required to wear a helmet, and while this reporter hasn’t been that young for quite some time, it seems better safe than sorry, so on goes the brain bucket.
Another key piece of advice from both the guide as well as South Simcoe Police Service Staff Sgt. Dave Phillips is to wear bright clothing more visible to people driving motor vehicles.
“Possibly the most important thing is just being seen,” he said. “Cyclists are entitled to use the roads like everyone else, but being a vulnerable road user, it’s critical that the bicycle operator is fully aware of what's around them and their own visibility and their safety.”
Despite going for a ride mid-to-late afternoon, the rear light is turned on and a unique fashion statement made with a vibrant long-sleeve T-shirt in high-visibility orange, which feels as though it could be seen from space and should certainly be visible from a block or two away.
With all the proper safety equipment, we’re ready to ride.
Starting at about 2 p.m. a route roughly 20 kilometres through and around urban Bradford is planned to hit a variety of arterial, residential and rural roads including: Holland Street West, Northgate Drive, Line 8, Barrie Street, Simcoe Road, Canal Road, Bridge Street, Holland Street East, Melbourne Drive, Line 6 and Langford Boulevard.
The route passes most major locations in town, including plenty of shopping plazas on Holland, the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library and BWG Leisure Centre (plus the construction site of the future Celebration Square), Bradford District High School, No Frills, Lions Park, four corners, the Bradford and District Memorial Community Centre (plus the future home of the new town hall), St. Charles Catholic School, the Danube Seniors Leisure Centre, Marshview Public School, the Portuguese Cultural Centre of Bradford, the GO Transit station, the historic downtown, Sobeys, fire and police stations, and Holy Trinity Catholic School.
Despite some well known hills, most destinations are only a few minutes apart, even less for those who are actually fit or using a bike with electronic power assist.
For e-bikes, the HTA requires riders be at least 16 years old and wear a helmet, plus the bike cannot be modified to exceed 32 kilometres per hour without being considered an electric motorcycle.
Even riding a regular 18-speed without power assist uphill all the way through the downtown, from the GO station, up Holland about two kilometres to the Sobeys during rush hour, only took this out-of-shape reporter about nine minutes.
That includes the time it took to walk from the GO station to and across the crosswalk at Dissette/Holland, but was also helped along by the fact that only one car was illegally stopped in the right lane.
Also, most roads — both arterial and residential — are wide enough that it’s relatively easy for drivers to be courteous, as were the vast majority of them, who left plenty of room while passing and acknowledged hand signals by leaving gaps for us to merge left and go around parked cars.
It wasn’t just because of the near-glowing bright orange shirt, either.
On our travels, BradfordToday bumped into (that’s figuratively of course) two other cyclists who had similar experiences.
Outside Canadian Tire, we caught up with Bill Arniel, who said he mostly rides through the marsh, but also goes through town occasionally to run smaller errands.
In Arniel’s experience, drivers leave plenty of space when passing and acknowledge when he has the right of way at intersections.
“The drivers around here are pretty courteous and respectful,” he said.
For his part, Arniel said he gives quick waves of appreciation to those drivers, rides in a predictable manner, and follows the rules of the road.
That last part is important, because just like drivers, cyclists can be fined for failing to follow the rules of the road, so remember to ride on the right-hand side of the street, signal your turns and stop at stop signs and red lights.
Arniel also doesn’t see many people riding on road through Bradford, but plenty out on Canal Road, which is part of the Tour de Holland cycling loop.
“For me as an adult, I think it’s better to be on the road, because bikes should not be on the sidewalk. Sidewalks are for pedestrians,” he said.
Bradford doesn’t have any bylaws prohibiting bicycles on sidewalks and the HTA doesn’t specifically permit nor prohibit riding on them, but the Act does define bicycles as vehicles for use on road.
At the No Frills plaza we meet a young man named Alejandro Trejo who has just completed riding eight kilometres around town as part of a mission to hit every corner of the urban area.
His advice is to have fun, ride with friends when you can and enjoy the scenery.
“There’s a lot of amazing views around here,” he said, but warned some of them require a “horrible” uphill ride.
On the busier main roads, Trejo prefers to stick to the sidewalks, but in the quieter residential areas he rides on road where it’s much smoother, and said he’s not had any issues sharing the road with drivers.
“Everyone is very kind,” he said.
To some extent that kindness is the law, since the HTA requires drivers overtaking cyclists to leave at least one metre between the right-most point of their vehicle and the left-most point of the bicycle.
Just as important, the HTA also requires people riding bicycles to stay “as close as practicable” to the right edge of the road and to turn out to the right to allow faster moving traffic to pass.
How far right is far enough, though?
That depends on the conditions of the road and the potential safety risk, according to David Shellnutt, founder of The Biking Lawyer LPP.
With offices in Toronto and Hamilton, his firm is known for helping cyclists who have been injured in collisions (mostly with motor vehicles) including in Bradford, but they also engage in advocacy for safe cycling.
Rural roads, like Canal Road, can have narrow soft shoulders leading into a steep ditch, and the right edge of the pavement can become broken, especially after winter.
“You can’t expect the cyclist to be right at the edge of the road there, because that’s really dangerous,” Shellnutt said, adding it’s safer to consistently ride a little more to the left than weaving unpredictably in and out of potholes and other hazards.
That same principal applies to urban roads, where gutters frequently become home to debris like twigs, trash, and broken bits of glass, plus parked cars.
Even storm drains can present issues depending on tire size, especially if the drain has become sunken over time.
Ontario’s Cycling Skills recommends staying about one metre to the left under normal conditions, and staying consistently farther left around lines of parked cars rather than weaving in and out.
Shellnutt also drives an SUV and said he prefers to pass cyclists by shifting left one full lane, the same way he would pass another motor vehicle.
“I really think that’s the way everyone should do it,” he said. “Often we see motorists try to squeeze in between cyclists and oncoming cars and that simply just isn’t safe. That’s how accidents happen.”
For that reason, there may be some situations where it’s actually not safe to share the road, and better for cyclists to remain in the middle of the lane temporarily to discourage others from overtaking.
“The law doesn’t require you to put yourself in danger to move over, so if you can’t move over because it’s not safe, you don’t need to,” Shellnutt explained.
Beyond just the size and condition of the road, some other examples might include if there’s a blind corner or a blind crest at the top of a hill.
“If they try to pass me on that uphill and a car comes unexpectedly, they’re not going to hit the car, they’re going to swerve and hit me,” Shellnutt said.
While not explicitly mentioned in the HTA, Shellnutt explained there’s also an implied prohibition on sharing the lane at stop signs or stop lights, meaning people riding bicycles shouldn’t creep up on the right side of stopped cars in the same lane, nor should people driving pull up on the left side of stopped bicycles in the same lane, both of which he discouraged as “an unsafe practice.”
Dedicated cycling lanes count as a separate lane.
Shellnutt emphasizes that driving is not a right, but a privilege, and with it comes a responsibility to protect vulnerable road users like cyclists.
“You need to go above and beyond to make sure that you’re driving with them in mind, because the cost of injuring somebody in terms of the impact on their lives is huge,” he said. “It’s not worth rushing to get to Costco.”
Bradford and Innisfil only average about two collisions between cyclists and drivers reported to police each year, and usually involve riders younger than 16 failing to stop at intersections in residential areas, or cars backing out of driveways while someone is cycling down the sidewalk, said Phillips.
His advice for young riders is similar to his advice for everyone, which is to be seen, wear a helmet and follow the rules of the road.
For those young riders looking to expand their range, Phillips recommends they know where they’re going and share their route and when they’ll be back with someone they trust.
For riders of all ages, he stressed the importance of being aware of your surroundings. That means not wearing headphones or earbuds and not fiddling with your phone while riding.
As of June, about seven stolen bicycles had been reported to police this year, many of which were recovered. Riders should keep track of their bike’s serial number or even engrave a marking or phone number into the frame for easy identification, Phillips said.
He also recommended riders properly lock up their bicycles at destinations, but Bradford’s availability of proper bike racks is a bit of a mixed bag, with most stores and plazas having none.
Some locations including Walmart, the nearby Starbucks, Scotiabank, Zehrs and Mark's had racks. There didn’t seem to be anything at the No Frills.
There also doesn’t seem to be anything in the historic downtown, making it risky to support local businesses by bicycle, but that may be addressed with the pending Holland Street revitalization, about which staff are expected to report to council later this year.
The library has a fantastic bicycle rack while Lions Park has a much smaller offering, but that’s still better than the complete lack of racks at the community centre as well as Constable Devon Northrup Memorial Park which connects to the nearby trail network.
At least these locations had a variety of metal fences that could be used in a pinch, but the public properties should all have some form of bicycle parking.
In lieu of proper bike racks, plenty of riders seemed to make due with whatever they could find and several bikes were spotted locked up to sign posts or the metal framing surrounding natural gas meters.
Other setbacks include the lack of traffic lights or pedestrian signal at Canal and Bridge, making it very difficult to turn left during heavy or even moderate traffic, as well as the lack of a pedestrian crossing on the east side of the intersection with Dissette, requiring an awkward three-stage crossing to get from the sidewalk on the south side of Bridge to the GO station across the street.
If enough people shift their mode of transportation, this layout might see some updates, but for now, town staff are already working to address the tricky timing of traffic signals in this location to accommodate so many vehicles.
All in all, getting around Bradford by bicycle is a very pleasant experience, so if you’re looking for an excuse to hop on your bike, a way to get a little extra exercise or even just trying to save a few pennies at the fuel pump, then the next time you need to run errands, you might want to consider swapping four wheels for two.
