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Confusing intersection laws

In the article about the young boy who was hit while riding his bike to school, the Advocate reminded us that cyclists are supposed to walk their bikes across intersections.
In the article about the young boy who was hit while riding his bike to school, the Advocate reminded us that cyclists are supposed to walk their bikes across intersections.

Partially true.

Cyclists have the choice of behaving as either motorists or pedestrians. If the cyclist crosses in the pedestrian crosswalk, then the law says that the cyclist must walk.

But cyclists almost never walk across the intersection. It’s a fact that annoys a lot of motorists, but it’s a tough sell to get cyclists to get off their bicycles and walk at every intersection. I have almost never seen anyone do it.

A few years ago an RCMP officer was hit while riding her bike in a crosswalk. She was charged. Is it reasonable to ask a police officer on duty to get off the bicycle and walk through every intersection she comes to all day long?

It’s time to ask why this rule exists if no one is following it anyway.

I certainly cannot see how it is any safer to be walking a bicycle through the intersection than to be riding through it.

When a cyclist is in a driving lane, then he must follow the same rules as a car. The cyclist must ride, not walk, through the intersection in the car lane.

If all of this seems complicated, it is. It’s no wonder there is confusion on the part of both the motorists and the cyclists.

There is a need for the city to provide an infrastructure that will allow children to safely ride to school and cyclists in general to commute within the city.

The city’s present policy of building multi-use trails will not make intersections any safer. It is time for the city to start looking at separated bicycle tracks.

John Johnston, Red Deer