Posts Tagged ‘safety’
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
Let me state the obvious that it is easier to blog than to roof. Roofing is hard work and dangerous. My south exposure roof was looking tattered, with shingles curling and losing a lot of small particulate. As I have not found a steady full-time job and could not afford the +$6,000 CAD fee for a professional roofer, and fearing a roof leak, I decided to DIY a large section of my roof. The roof job is progressing very well, though I have not gotten used to the hard physical labour.
Tags: asphalt, disposal, flashing, roofing, safety, shingle, valley
Posted in Environment, Learn | No Comments »
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Bicycle riding prohibited in certain parks in Toronto. The bylaw 319-69 was repealed in 1997.
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Sometimes finding certain information on the internet is much more difficult than it should be. I was looking for the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada bylaw that allows bicycles with less than 24″ tires to ride on the sidewalk. I could not find it. I emailed the city clerk about the bylaw but got no response. This bylaw is heavily mentioned but almost never referenced. After about two years of searching the web, I finally found it.
Tags: 319-69, bicycle, bicycles, bylaw, Canada, City of Toronto, safety, Scarborough, sidewalk, Toronto
Posted in bicycle, Environment, Kids | No Comments »
Friday, September 10th, 2010
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Speeding through school zones is an ongoing and madening traffic issue in Toronto, Canada. Every year the police, accompanied by children stop speeders near their schools, but it seems nothing changes. Everyone agrees that speeding through a school zone in very dangerous for kids, but drivers are too self absorbed and arrogant to change their behaviour. Preventable.ca is running a small test in West Vancouver where they adhere a sticker of a child on the road. From far away the sticker looks like a little girl fetching a ball. This is to remind drivers in a school zone to pay attention to the road in order to keep kids safe. It is a small test, but well worth trying. I think preventable.ca for their effort in improving road safety for children in BC, but hope that they will also reach out to Toronto.
Tags: ball, BC, Canada, car, distraction, girl, image, inattentional blindness, Ontario, pedestrian, Preventable.ca, road, safety, school, school zone, speeding, Vancouver
Posted in Environment, Kids, Learn | No Comments »
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
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Living in North East Toronto, Canada is a very large community of Mainland Chinese, many who are recent immigrants. When they ship their lives half way across the world to Canada they bring with them some surprising gems. I picked up this Daou unicycle at a garage sale. It has a 12.5″ rear coaster wheel with back brake, and a skateboard truck up front. The seat is unicycle style, with a black steel handle in the front. Apart from the “Daou” label, under the seat there are two quality stickers from the Chengdu Zixingche Lingjian San Chang, or the Chengdu Bicycle Parts Factory #3. After a couple of key changes this contraption rides much like a unicycle (no left-right stability), but has anterior-posterior stability, allowing the rider to coast. You can pedal backwards to brake, which is good enough to skid the tire. This unicycle rides quite well, can travel at faster than walking speed and allows the rider to coast. Due to the small skateboard wheels up front it can endo if you hit a large sidewalk crack.
Tags: 12.5" wheel, bicycle, Chengdu, Chengdu Bicycle Parts Factory #3, Chengdu Zixingche Lingjian San Chang, China, Daou, hege, safety, Schrader valve, skateboard, Toronto, truck, unicycle, you
Posted in bicycle, China, hobby, Kids | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Cars, trucks and motorcycles need to get along. Cooperation both ways would make life a lot safer for everyone. These roadside ads are excellent. I wish we had similar ads here in Ontario, Canada. They are a two part ad campaign, one part directed at drivers and the other at motorcycle riders. Kudos to the great State of Utah.
Here are a couple directed at drivers:
Utah Department of Public Safety: Bikers make Lousy Speed Bumps
Utah Department of Public Safety: Cars have Bumpers, Bikers have Bones
Here are a couple directed at motorcycle riders:
Utah Department of Public Safety: Road Rash is Preventable
This is a preview of
Utah Department of Public Safety Motorcycle Campaign
.
Read the full post (129 words, 5 images, estimated 31 secs reading time)
Tags: Bikers have bones, Bikers make lousy speed bumps, campaign, Cars hav bumpers, Department of Public Safety, Drive aware, It's born to be wild, motorcycle, ride aware, Road rash is a preventable disease, safety, To cars and trucks you're the bug, Utah
Posted in motorcycle, Nonsense | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Google Street started today, and they sure take some detailed photos.
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There’s a pesky grey and white cat at the end of on my driveway. Who it belongs to I know not. It seems to be waiting for the garbage truck, or a taxi. The photo was taken in early spring, because our tulips are in bloom and our apricot tree is showing off their lovely white flowers. It’s about noon time. The image quality of the newly released (to Toronto) Google Street View is pretty amazing, and though I am not sure of its usefulness, it sure is interesting.
Tags: cat, Google, maps, privacy, safety, Street View, Toronto, Toronto Star
Posted in Environment, Nonsense, Tech | 2 Comments »
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
Make no mistake that riding a motorcycle here in Toronto is dangerous. Intentionally or not cages (cars) do dangerous things, endangering the life of the motorcyclist. Talking on the phone is especially hazardous to riders. When anyone makes a mistake and there is contact, the motorcyclist will take a trip to the hospital. An interesting motorcycle strategy that is new to me is called aggressive but cautious. Central to this strategy is to ride 20-30kph over the speed limit.
Tags: aggressive, aggressive cautious, cautious, left hand turner, motorcycle, Ontario, police, riding strategy, safety, strategy, Toronto
Posted in motorcycle | No Comments »
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