The spring sunshine is here. The City is busy clearing the roads of the sand, rocks and debris of the past winter.

Hooray! It's time to ride bikes on roads again.

I would like to make a quick public service announcement to cyclists and drivers.

1) please stop using your mobile device as you travel

2) please signal before you turn

3) please shoulder check before you turn

As an aside, I would love to have the City/RCMP do a blitz on mobile device usage by operators. I ride across the Robert Campbell bridge every day, multiple times, and the number of drivers using their smart-device while driving could fund a whole lot of community events.

Have fun and be safe out there people!

Just completed the City of Whitehorse's bylaw survey. Overall, a painless experience but it seems to be getting more prescriptive instead of providing guidance on best practices.

A couple of observations on the bylaw:

• the defintion of the Downtown Core should have an accompanying image or map to visually illustrate the region defined
• there are gender specific pronouns in the bylaw
• the bylaw should use METRIC!
• the provision for seizure of a bicycle for 10 days is quite vague and makes me nervous about how this is activated

A couple of observations on the survey:

• the survey combined options that made me unsure of the appropriate answer for the question
• they missed a very important sub-question on #15
  "I see motor vehicle violations" -- Daily
• there was a question about requiring a bell to pass other trail users. I use my voice but MANY times the trail user, usually walking, is wearing headphones and cannot hear my shout - nevermind a bell.
• there was not a single question about bike/dog interactions

Anyway - it's nice they are asking for input but it seems to me that the people crafting the bylaw are writing this from the perspective of protecting cars and walkers; not encouraging cycling.