Don’t have a light on that bike? That’ll cost $127
As province imposes higher fines, cyclists reminded about safety after dark
Montreal police started issuing $127 tickets to cyclists who did not have lights affixed to their bicycles, front and back, this week. With the end of daylight time last Sunday, which ushered in an earlier dusk, rush-hour bike commuters heading home at 5:30 p.m. in the dark were pulled over repeatedly on the de Maisonneuve bike path outside the Vendôme métro station Monday evening. The crackdown, which will continue all week on the city’s busiest bike corridors and cycle routes, comes after police spent the previous week warning cyclists they would start issuing fines for the infraction, and handing out free lights. Quebec hiked the fines for missing lights from $35, with taxes and fees factored in, to $127 last spring under its new Highway Safety Code. The city of Montreal, its police force and cycling advocacy groups all decried the sudden increase, to no avail. The hike was first suggested under Liberal transport minister Robert Poëti, and unanimously approved by all parties on April 17. Fines for driving without enough reflectors were also increased to $127. “You don’t have to be that heavy-handed to motivate cyclists to do the right thing,” said Dan Lambert, spokesperson for the Montreal Bike Coalition. “A $50 fine is plenty to coerce people into using bike lights. That’s what you want, to send a message to correct the situation. You don’t have to charge them practically the cost of a bicycle.” Lambert noted, however, that awareness campaigns appeared to be working. Along with the police issuing warnings, cycling advocacy groups had been handing out flyers and posting signs warning of the coming hike in fines and the need for greater visibility. Statistics compiled by the Bike Coalition showed that only 55 to 65 per cent of cyclists they recorded along the de Maisonneuve bike path were using bike lights at this time last year. On Monday, the coalition recorded that 72 out of the 86 people who cycled by the police stop at Vendôme over a span of 45 minutes were using lights, an 84 per cent compliance rate. It’s possible that rush-hour commuters tend to be more habitual riders and thus more likely to comply with cycling laws, Lambert said. Of those who weren’t using lights, 10 were issued tickets, Lambert said. Four got off because police didn’t manage to pull them over, or because they had lights that weren’t working. Police did not ticket riders lacking reflectors, but did give them a warning and information on their importance. Ideally, when cyclists attain a certain level of compliance, police will stop ticketing, Lambert said. “But we’re very happy with the way it’s working out. We think cyclists are starting to recognize the importance of lights for their safety and the safety of others.” Montreal recorded an average of 3.75 cyclist deaths per year between 2006 and 2017. Pedestrians are also adversely affected and concerned by hard-tosee nighttime cyclists, particularly when its rainy and snowy, further obstructing visibility, Lambert noted. The de Maisonneuve bike path, with 8,500 users a day during the summer months, is among the busiest in the city. Sherbrooke St., which runs parallel and one block to the north, still sees 4,000 users a day in the summer despite the fact that it has no bike path. For this reason, the Montreal Bike Coalition is pushing the city to install a dedicated bike path on Sherbrooke St. stretching from its westernmost point in Montreal West to Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in the eastern part of the city. “There are going to be cyclists using it one way or the other, so the question is, ‘Do you provide safe access?’ ” Lambert said.