Cycling Chaos

More cycling follies. This time I watched as a cyclist who was approaching an intersection saw an opportunity to make an early left and took it. Instead of making his left at the intersection, he abruptly crossed to the other side of the road several car lengths before arriving at the intersection. He proceeded to ride against traffic on the wrong side of the road and then cross in front of the path of a driver who was about to turn right. Once past the surprised driver, the cyclist finally made his left.

In Toronto, many cyclists follow the traffic rules only when it is convenient or when they have no choice; i.e., when traffic is so heavy it would be impossible to do anything but follow the rules. I still see many almost daily examples of such make-it-up-as-you-go-along cycling.

Many cities in the world have looser approaches to traffic rules. Ho Chi Minh City is such a place. This short video made by Rob Whitworth shows some excellent examples of the wild traffic in this Vietnamese city.

My feeling is that it is more pleasant to observe such traffic from a bird’s-eye view than it is to take part in it at ground level. Unlike in Ho Chi Minh City, in Toronto cyclists are still in the minority of road users. While Whitworth’s video show traffic moving fairly easily, I don’t think this kind of functional chaos could be successfully transplanted to Toronto’s car and truck–dominated roads.

Toronto traffic is not yet Ho Chi Minh City traffic. In Toronto, traffic proceeds in a—usually—orderly fashion. Drivers and pedestrians still expect their fellow road users to follow the rules. As Toronto's population grows, chaos on the roads will increase everyone’s travel times and make their trips more dangerous and stressful.