GuelphToday received the following Letter to the Editor from reader Tom Ewart, in regards to driving around cyclists:
As a driver, it can feel frustrating to come up behind a more slow-going cyclist. But I recently asked myself: is that feeling rational? Is the delay real or just perceived? Here is what I learned using some basic research and math.
Start with the research. Conveniently, a group of scholars has actually studied precisely this question: “do bicycles reduce passenger car travel speeds on urban roads without bicycle lanes?” Their findings (published in 2020 in the Journal of the Transportation Research Board): “differences in motorized passenger vehicle speeds with and without cyclists were found to be negligible.” (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0361198120920880)
Does this finding pass the sniff-test? My engineering degree isn’t needed for a simple calculation. In addition to driving, I also often commute by bicycle. In my experience, a car “waiting” to pass never needs to follow me for more than perhaps 50 meters, so let’s quadruple that to be conservative (200m). I normally roll at about 30km/h, and the in-town limit is 50, but let’s again be conservative and go with 20 and 70km/h, for the bike and car respectively. This means that the car could lose 50km/h from their speed for 200m while waiting to pass me. Time is distance over speed, so 200m/50,000m/h = 0.004 hours or 14 seconds. Sounds pretty “negligible” to me, especially given the stoplight down the road and other traffic.
I know everyone is overworked and wishes our days were longer. And feelings are real. However, in light of the foregoing evidence on cyclists not delaying motorists, and especially after recent cyclist deaths we have seen in Ontario, I implore frustrated drivers to take a moment to ask ourselves: could I live with myself if I killed a cyclist?
And for those who count ourselves occasionally generous souls, perhaps a thank-you to cyclists is even in order for not contributing to motor vehicle traffic congestion—a real cause of driving delays.
Tom Ewart,
Guelph, Ont.
