EDITORIAL: Stay off the sidewalks

In the past few weeks, three cyclists have been hit driving through crosswalks, after illegally riding on city sidewalks.

It’s time police cracked down on offenders, who claim they aren’t safe on Thunder?Bay’s streets. Start levying fines to those who don’t obey the law.

According to figures released by the city, between 2008 and 2011, 68 per cent of all collisions between bikes and motorists occurred when the cyclist was on the sidewalk.

Drivers have a difficult time seeing bikers who race off sidewalks, often against the flow of traffic, at 10 times the speed of pedestrians.
Whether you feel safe as a cyclist driving on city roads or not, it remains illegal to ride on sidewalks and through crosswalks.

Sidewalks are for walking.?Streets are for vehicles, and under the Highway Traffic Act, bikes with a wheel diameter of 43 centimetres or more are considered vehicles.

The city has gone to considerable expense to design a network of bike lanes, which continue to grow each year. While they haven’t all been thoroughly thought out – see Victoria Avenue – they do give bikers their own space to move about the city safely.

That said, motorists must respect the bike lanes and learn to navigate city streets without impinging on cyclists’ territory.