Rules of the road should reflect cyclists’ reality: city

Optional full stop is among changes proposed to safety code

You might have heard this before: Montreal wants stiffer penalties for dooring, and it wants cyclists to be permitted to merely slow down at stop signs.

Those were among the recommendations the city unveiled as part of its brief to Quebec’s transportation ministry as it goes through the process of reforming the province’s Highway Safety Code.

Marianne Giguère, who is charged with the active transportation file (biking, walking, skateboarding) for Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration, said it is time for the code to reflect the reality that already exists on the city’s streets.

She said cyclists now rarely make full stops at intersections, and doing so can be considered dangerous at certain times.

While she said cyclists will still have to yield for pedestrians, she wants to remove the obligation to stop and she wants the province to allow cyclists to also turn right on red lights.

“This is already recognized in many cities around the world for drivers,” Giguère said. “In Montreal, we have chosen not to do this, for good reasons. But for cyclists, we should also give them the rights that are more appropriate for their way of getting around, while still making sure they respect the most vulnerable (which are pedestrians).”

Giguère said the law must be amended to protect the most vulnerable, but it must also recognize that cars are a much greater risk than bicycles on the road. Giguère said the city also wants cyclists injured by an opening car door to be eligible to apply for compensation from the province’s licence bureau.

To do that, the law has to be changed to classify dooring incidents as accidents. Currently, only those injured by moving vehicles are eligible for compensation from the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec.

The Plante administration detailed other changes it would like to see in the code to make streets safer, including forcing all trucks in the province to be equipped with side skirts, which could prevent pedestrians or cyclists from falling under trucks if they are in a collision, a measure for which safety advocates have been advocating for many years.

The measures announced Wednesday were similar to those announced by former mayor Denis Coderre’s administration in September of 2015.

The province has been considering changes to its Highway Safety Code for nearly four years. Reacting to a rash of cyclists killed or injured in collisions with cars in July of 2014, then transport minister Robert Poëti put in place a round table comprised of cycling- and road-safety advocates, including former racer and cycling-safety advocate Louis Garneau. Poëti promised the changes would be in place by the end of 2015.

Three transport ministers and four years later, the only change to the code has been to implement a rule that cars must give one metre of room when passing cyclists, or 1.5 metres when the speed limit is higher than 50 km/ h. The province also increased the maximum fine for opening a door into a cyclist to $300 from $30.

Late last year, the province introduced Bill 165, which imposes stiffer fines for distracted driving, and also puts in place more restrictions for new drivers and those with learner’s permits.

The province has called for input about the law, and the city responded with a brief unveiled Wednesday.

Among the other measures requested by the city are:

allow children to ride their bikes ■ on sidewalks;

increase the fines for cyclists, ■ with stiffer fines reserved for the most dangerous infractions;

redefine the types of vehicles ■ that can use bike paths to include other types of active transportation, like skateboard;

make it illegal to cycle while ■ under the influence of drugs or alcohol;

revise the definition of a bicycle ■ to allow front baskets and rear hitches;

revisit the rules to allow the ■

SAAQ to cover collisions involving non-motorized vehicles.

For drivers of motorized vehicles, the city is asking the province to:

review the rules surrounding ■ dynamic signs on the sides of roads to limit distractions;

add reading and eating to the list ■ of tasks that are considered to be distracted driving;

impose strict fines and clear conditions ■ for people driving under the influence of marijuana.

to allow the city to deploy automated ■ technology to manage traffic.

The city also wishes for the province to allow for the adoption of pilot projects to test automated cars on the streets.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon, Plante said she’d like to see the province adopt rules that better reflect the reality of living in Montreal, and perhaps adopt different rules for both urban and rural settings. She said doing so will improve the lives of cyclists, pedestrians and drivers.

“Montreal is a cycling city and we’re recognized around the world for that,” Plante said. “We are proposing accommodations to facilitate fluidity and security. We’ll see how that will be seen by Quebec.”