The other day as I drove my small truck south on 13^th Street S., a cyclist came toward me on the wrong side of the road. As he squeezed past a parked car, head down, he forced me to move slightly into the next lane. It’s fortunate the lane was clear.

The more I get into cycling, the more I notice cyclists who seem ignorant of traffic laws or are just plain anarchists.

I’ve watched an older cyclist turning left from the right curb, others riding on sidewalks, one ready to run a red light in front of me until he caught himself and a young fellow with both hands off the handlebars  – text messaging.

Motorists, no doubt, get annoyed at cyclists who seem oblivious to the realities of sharing the road with cars. Some defer to cyclists, apparently understanding the clear advantage they would have in a collision.

A local group call Bikebridge Cycle City Circle has submitted a list of recommendations, including implementing “ongoing public awareness programs explaining the rights and responsibilities of both cyclists and motorists as vehicle operators,” to the Plan Your City Municipal Development Plan on the city’s future.

On that point, the future can’t come too soon. A Statistics Canada study that looked at the effect of helmet use on fatality trends concluded, “The vast majority of cycling accidents involve cyclist error or inappropriate practices.”

The Bikebridge group has found barriers to bicycle use that may contribute to some of those practices and offers ideas on how to reduce or eliminate the barriers. The obstacles focus on safety, security and fitness demand issues.

Items that made the list of barriers “result from either a lack of understanding about bicycle use or inadequate roadway and bikeway design and maintenance.”

“When we consider making a trip on a bike, our first consideration might be whether or not there is a safe route to and from our destination. Our attention might then shift to our ability to physically make the trip, or the difficulty of the route. And we wonder, once we arrive, will there be a place to secure our bike and the things we will take with us or acquire en route,” circle members observed.

The submission recommends creating a bicycle advisory group, establishing criteria for cycling routes, standards for bicycle security, a cycling information/education program that would involve schools, and building an east-west connector bikeway.

Robert McKay, project manager for Plan Your City, says the submission is one of 50 from circle groups interested in an improved city in diverse areas such as the arts, inclusion of people with disabilities, biodiversity and ecological integrity and seniors transportation.

“The response exceeded our expectations.”

The next step will be an orientation meeting at 6:30 Thursday at City Hall to assist circle participants and other citizens develop displays or presentations for an Oct.17 Ideas Fair in the City Hall foyer.

In the meantime, maybe some cyclists could get help with their roadside manner.