Sitting at the light, in the bike lane on College St, waiting to cross Bathurst.
‘Bike lanes’ are lanes where bikes go, and where cars aren’t supposed to drive or park. It’s true that the lane on College is always full of cars driving and parking. But they’re not supposed to do it. It’s still a bike lane. In theory at least it’s meant for people on bikes.
You want to use it as a right turn lane? Tough shit. It’s got a picture of a bike on it, not an arrow pointing to the right. Wait for the car in front of you to proceed through the intersection, make sure there are no bikes immediately to the right of, or behind you, then make your turn.
DO NOT honk at me because I am in the bike lane. I’m on my freakin’ bike ! I belong here ! I am not going to hop on to the sidewalk because you want to turn right. Not only will that make pedestrians mad at me, but it’s illegal for me to be there, and besides, it’s my fucking lane ! Lucky I was wearing mittens or you were soooo getting the finger.
And, do NOT, under any circumstances, squeeze between me and the car (in the “car” lane) to the left of me, running over my foot and causing my handlebar to scrape against your car, in order to turn right in front of me.
If you do choose to do this, it’s a good idea to avoid nearly hitting a car that’s already in the intersection (on his green light, your red), causing him to honk and swerve in order to avoid hitting your sorry ass.
You especially shouldn’t do this in freezing rain, where roads are slippery, visibility is poor, and brakes fail. Fucking wait for the green light. Would that kill you?
I know it’s too late for the waste of space that I encountered last week (and if he’s reading the boards, then I don’t want to play here any more). I’d be surprised if he made it home alive anyway. But I’ve nearly been killed in the bike lane often enough that I just had to say something.