Pathways a conflict zone for joggers and riders

Debate is being stirred among the city’s active residents after an Ottawa couple expressed their concerns about speeding cyclists posing a safety risk for runners and other pedestrians.

Isabelle Lamoureux was struck by a cyclist and suffered minor injuries while running with her husband, Adam, on the Sir John A. Macdonald parkway during Alcatel Sunday Bikedays this weekend.

Though the parkway and the NCC’s multi-use pathways offer very different conditions, the couple complained that, in both locales, many cyclists are speeding by too quickly.

Adam Lamoureux said many bikes zip down the paths at speeds much greater than the 20 km/ h permitted by the NCC on multiuse pathways.

Alex deVries, vice-president of Citizens for Safe Cycling, said he believes there’s a problem with cyclists and pedestrians being able to share the road without conflict. That conflict is increasing as cycling becomes more popular, he said.

“I can see lots of bad behaviour on the parts of all users,” he said. “Cyclists going too fast, passing when they shouldn’t. Pedestrians wandering into the middle of the path. Parents letting their children dawdle in the middle of the path. There’s bad users out there.”

In extreme cases, walkers or runners may take up the entire pathway, or they may be unpredictable, making it difficult for cyclists to pass them safely.

Some runners yell at cyclists who pass them, even if they ring their bell, deVries said. “But not everybody’s like that. It’s inconsistent,” he said.

Cyclists get mixed messages. Some people say they should only be using roads. Some say they should only be using multi-use pathways. “Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to be,” he said.

In areas with lots of traffic, it makes a lot of sense for cyclists to follow the 20 km/ h speed limits, deVries said. But not everybody does this.

“A problem has been to just lump all the cyclists into one group. It’s really individuals, mostly respectful users, but there’s some that just sort of ruin it for everyone,” deVries said. “I don’t like the idea that some cyclists are giving all cyclists a bad name.”

People don’t talk about the cyclists who are being safe and following the rules, he said: “Good behaviour means not being noticed.”

He estimated that about 1,300 people commute to and from downtown using the Ottawa River pathway every day, and close to two-and-a-half per cent of trips in the city are done by bike — closer to eight per cent in the downtown core.