No Respect for Cyclists

Tweet

Check out my blogs at punchmeout.ca..



Unlike the majority of people I don't own a car, due to my current financial circumstances. I either walk to get where I am going, or choose to take my bicycle. If I owned a car, I would not be able to live comfortably. I'd be living in an apartment paying rent, looking for spare change on the ground, and making trips to the food bank. These days it seems like everyone with a car thinks their better than anyone without a car, and think that cyclists should get off the road, and ride their bicycles for recreational purposes only in parks, and by-cycle paths, wherever there available.

It infuriates me to think that this may be the case with many drivers. I pay my taxes, and I have every right to ride my by-cycle wherever, and whenever as long as I am following the rules of the road.

Bicycles are not just for recreation, people more and more people are using their bicycles to get to work and school. Many roads are not designed for cyclists. When the roads were built, cars were popular, and no one would dream of getting around without one.

This perception is starting to change. People are starting to realize the benefits to riding their bicycles. It puts more money into their pockets, they don't have to concern themselves with parking, and their is an added health benefit as well. Slowly, city planners are realizing the benefits of planning for more bike infrastructure. It reduces traffic congestion, road maintenance, decreases toxic pollutants, and improves physical activity levels, thereby reducing cases of obesity, and the strain on the health care system.

According to Transport Canada, non recreational cycling is on the rises. Most people use it to get to and from work. According to 2006 statistics only 1.4% of the country's Census Metropolitan Area's cycle to work regularly. The numbers have been increasing though, it was 1.2% in 1996 and 1.3% in 2001. Victory, BC had the highest number of bicycle commuters in 2006 at 5.6%. Kingston, ON, and Saskatoon, SK shared a second place.

Unfortunately, there are many barriers to bicycle use. Most streets do not have proper bike path, streets are poorly maintained, and are narrow. In 2004 commuters in Amsterdam were surveyed for reasons why they did not choose their bicycle to ride to work on their bicycles. The main reasons for choosing not to ride their bicycles to work were speed, discomfort, feeling unsafe, and the inability to carry passengers. (i)

Providing more and better infrastructure is the key to improving commuter perception of cycling to work or school. When new subdivisions are built and new roads are constructed, consideration should be made to accommodate cyclists.

Cyclists have every right to share the road as drivers. It doesn't mean that they don't have to follow the same rules. Cyclist’s must follow the rules of the road just has drivers do; however, there are two rules that cyclists must pay special attention to. Since cyclist’s usually travel at a lower speed they must stay to the right of the road, and must give way to faster traffic when safe and practice. (ii)

If you ride your by-cycle to get around there are a few rules that you need to keep in mind. According to the Ministry of Transportation, cyclists must stay a least one metre from the side of the road or close to the right hand edge of the road, when there is no curb. (Often that is not practical. You may have to ride closer than one metre, within reason according to the road conditions.)

When riding around cars you should ride your bike in a straight line. If your changing lanes you must yield the right away to the other vehicles in the lane. The person moving into the lane, should wait until an opening becomes available, signal, check over their shoulder and then change lanes.

Be aware that shoulder checks are can be dangerous; although. It may be helpful to get a by-cycle mirror. Your eyes should never leave the road when you ride your bicycle. Rely on your per-phial vision, and if you have to look to the side or behind you, be quick and keep yourself steady. Small stones, and pot holes can send you flying over your handle bars, and into the traffic. When buying a mirror, be careful, some mirrors may be too small to be really useful. Look around and see what your options are. If your living in a small town or city, your options may be extremely limited, check out Ebay.

I live in Brockville, Ontario, and take my bike to and from work, and to run errands. I don't own a car, and it is my only way aside from walking to get around in this small city, that is still going no after over 100 years. The buses run on the hour, and end at about 5:30 PM. Streets are just wide enough for cars to get through and pass each other. There is poor lighting on many streets, no crossing lights at some street corners, and some streets have no sidewalks.

I follow the rules of the road, and pay my taxes like everyone else. If your a cyclist, be aware of your surroundings, and follow the rules of the road. Stay out of the way, and find alternative means of crossing busy intersections. Drivers be respectful of cyclists. They have a right to ride the road just like you do.

Websites Referenced in this blog;

(i) Ministry of Transportation
(ii) Transport Canada

Check out my blogs at punchmeout.ca..

Insurance Companies Squeezing your Food Budget

Tweet

Check out my blogs at punchmeout.ca..

Insurance rates keep rising, and my food budget keeps shrinking. Soon there will be nothing left. Every year I go to the mailbox and there's another notice from the Insurance Company that my house insurance has gone up another $10. This is not fair. Five years ago my house insurance was $90 a month, and now I am paying $135 a month, and I haven't filed a claim, yet.
When I shopped around the quotes I got were not much better, DLK Insuance was $145, WC Burgess was worse with $157. This is outrageous. When will it stop? My earnings haven't increased, and I am paying out more and more for my insurance.

I expect it to go up another $10 this year, and the year after that. If it keeps going up without any interference from the government, in another 5 years I will be forking out $185 a month for house insurance on a 1500 square foot house, on a corner lot. I don't have a car, and I haven't filed any claims on my house, since I bought it.

What am I to do? I live in a small city called Brockville with about 50 000 people in total. Its growing but the jobs are a mixture of industrial and retail. The best you can expect is miniumum wage, and part-time hours. I moved here from Ottawa, Ontario to take a job at a local call center now call Transcom, since I am a Anglophone, and couldn't work in french (Times have changed in Ottawa. There are very few jobs for Anglophones.). I worked there about 2 years, before I had to quit to stress.

At that time, I'd worked at call centers for about 10 years, and I reached my breaking point. Its been down hill from that point. I've managed by taking whatever jobs I could get, and working for myself doing web site maintenance and design. (I have a 3 year diploma from St. Lawrence College in Business Administration Information Systems. It is really just an expensive piece of paper on the wall. I only really learned something after graduation, as Technology changed, and I started doing odd jobs for myself.).

I worked for a while as an inserter at the Recorder and Times, until they shut down their operations, and then ended up as cleaner. Since February 2011, I've been working at full time for a company Milestone Industrial Services for about 2 years now.

At the end of the month I had about $100 a month for food. Since the insurance company started grabbing more and more cash from my pocket, I am really at around $60 a month, and it keeps shrinking.

Part-time work and finding additional work for myself are my only options, aside from moving away from Brockville. Its only going to get worse, according to what their doing to grow the city. The city is trying to attract people 50 and up to grow the population. What a joke! More old people to fill the retirement homes.

In 2003 the average Ontario Insurance premium was $1200, by 2011 that figure had $1500, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Good news though. One of the demands New Democratic leader Andrea Horwath made a rollback of 15% in insurance premiums, one of her demands in return to get this years budget passed (See, Ontario Liberals and NDP team up against auto insurance industry).

According to an article on http://financialplan.about.com/od/homeownersinsurance/a/Homeowners.htm . There are some things you can do to decrease your insurance. The main option is to consider increasing your deductible. Your deductible decreases the risk that the insurance company takes on, and lowers your monthly payment. This offers a brief reprieve, until your rates go up again. I've gone from $1000 to 2000 and I am right back where I started. Its like the dog chasing his tail, and who gets stuck in the end. You are. Something happens, and you must pay the deductible. The only thing working for you is the fact that you may get a discount off your deducible, the longer you stay with your insurance company.

Hopefully, there will be some relief in the future. Something has to happen, another minimum wage increase is not the answer. Employers aren't able to pay more to there employees, and every time there is a wage increase, the employers must compensate, by increasing prices for the services and products they provide. Its a vicious circle.

The worst part of it all is the children. The insurance companies are stealing food from your children's mouths. The insurance company increases there rates, and you can't feed your children any more. Government must stop allowing insurance companies from increasing there rates, or people will be forced to try and work three jobs to keep up, sell their homes, and visit the food banks just to survive.

Check out my blogs at punchmeout.ca..

Pig Pen

Tweet

Check out my blogs at punchmeout.ca..

The other day I stood in line waiting for a teller at the bank. Behind the counter
were two lovely ladies, one woman was obviously very nervous.
A pen bobbed up down in her mouth, as she actively chewed the end of her pen. The other woman
was doing the same thing, until it accidentally fell from her mouth on
to the counter. She was obviously aware of what she was doing, and was a bit
embarrassed. It was amusing.


I walked up to the next available teller, and proceeded to deposit a check. The
teller gave me the transaction slip to sign. I reached for the pen, and hesitated.
There it was. The evidence was there for all to see. The official bank pen was
missing, and in its place was a blue pen with a chewed cap. Interesting, I thought.
The woman must of served a customer, and offered her pen when the bank
pen could not be found.

It is very unprofessional for a teller to chew their pen, behind the counter. It
doesn't give a very good impression to the people waiting in line, looks bad,
and is very unhygienic. If you have a habit of chewing your pen, try
chewing gum instead. It looks better then a pen bobbing up and down in front
of your face, and is allot more sanitary; however, that too can look bad.
Just don't suck your thumb like a 5 year old.


One more thing, just don't stick it anywhere, except where it belongs,
in the garbage. The next time you pick up a pen and put it in your mouth,
take some time to think of where that pen has been, or where it will end up.

Check out my blogs at punchmeout.ca..