Sidewalk cyclists face crackdown

Cyclists drive almost exclusively on the sidewalk on Finch Ave. between Sentinel Rd. and Tobermory Dr. (Bernard Weil/Toronto Star)

Moves to keep bicycles off sidewalks have been in the works for months, but they are too late for a Toronto pedestrian who died this week after being hit by a cyclist.

Nobu Okamoto, 74, was struck by a 33-year-old cyclist on Finch Ave. W. near Sentinel Rd. on Aug. 4. The cyclist remained at the scene and was fined, police said. The fine for cycling on the sidewalk in North York is $3.75.

Had the accident occurred downtown, the ticket would have been $90 as bylaws still differ across the city more than 10 years after amalgamation.

“It’s an anomaly that’s been allowed to fester . . . it doesn’t make sense,” said Brian Patterson, president of the Ontario Safety League. “We have to have a working set of regulations that are consistent and fair.”

RELATED STORY: Cyclists defend riding on sidewalk where pedestrian was killed

Patterson said cycling on the sidewalk has become “a huge issue” in cities across the province within the last five years. But the laws governing it are inconsistent and moves to update them have been slow.

“There isn’t enough teeth in the law,” said Sgt. Angelo Costa, the traffic sergeant in 31 Division where the incident occurred. “All I can do is stop a cyclist, he has to identify himself to me and I can give him a ticket. There isn’t anything else . . . that’s going to change his behaviour.”

In January, Toronto’s public works committee recommended that council work on a strategy to get cyclists off the sidewalks.

The police services board then discussed the issue in July and sent a report on harmonizing and enforcing sidewalk cycling bylaws back to the committee.

That report’s findings will be discussed in November, said committee chair Denzil Minnan-Wong.

“We’re dealing with a number of cycling issues at the November public works committee meeting,” he said, adding that raising fine amounts alone isn’t a solution.

“You can put a fine at whatever you like, but if there’s not an enforcement strategy there’s no real or effective deterrent,” he said.

Cities such as Vancouver, Montreal and London have banned cycling on sidewalks altogether, unless signed otherwise.

The officer at the scene on Aug. 4 didn’t feel a careless driving charge was warranted, Costa said. But detectives are now investigating the incident and additional charges may be laid.

That doesn’t change the inadequacy of current cycling laws, though.

“It’s unfortunate that somebody has to pay the ultimate price before any legislative changes,” Costa said.

Bicycles are subject to some municipal bylaws, but are also considered vehicles under the Highway Traffic Act.

Motorists and cyclists are treated equally under the act, but its highest charge is careless driving, which carries a fine of $400 to $2,000, and up to six months in jail.

Cyclists cannot be charged with dangerous driving under the Criminal Code — that offence only covers motorized vehicles.

“We really ought to consider whether the (Highway Traffic Act) is stringent enough on penalties for carelessness, and that goes for cyclists and drivers,” said Toronto Cyclists Union advocacy director Andrea Garcia.

She said she supports increasing fines for sidewalk cycling, but only if they are accompanied by measures to make roads safer for cyclists, such as more bike lanes.

“A lot of cyclists will tell you that they feel extremely unsafe on the road and therefore they choose to bike on the sidewalk,” she said. “That ends up creating a second set of problems.”

The laws have also failed to keep up with new technology. In Toronto, bicycles with a wheel diameter of less than 61 centimetres are allowed on sidewalks. That restriction exists so children can ride there.

But electric bikes are governed by the same rules as regular bikes, so those with smaller wheels are allowed on sidewalks. Some are even marketed as “sidewalk-compliant.”

“Those things will get up to speeds of 30 to 40 km/h,” Costa said. “Legislation looks at that and says it’s a bicycle, as long as it has those pedals. But if the guy’s on electric power and he’s moving along . . . God forbid he hits a small child.”

-- Michael Woods, Staff Reporter

Comments

[Miss Lynx]

As a cyclist, I'm quite in favour of more enforcement of safety laws. There is rarely any good reason for an adult to ride on the sidewalk. I think I've had to do it a small handful of times due to things unexpected construction completely blocking the road, with no good place to turn off to get away from it, but that's fairly rare - I might run into situations like that once or twice a year. And when it does happen, it's common sense to proceed VERY slowly and carefully until you can get back onto the road again.

Most of the time when I see cyclists on the sidewalk, they're just being lazy and/or cowardly. I can't believe the number of people who seem to think it's somehow impossible to ride on the streets unless there's a marked bike lane. Bike lanes are certainly nice to have, and I'm all in favour of them, but it's quite possible to ride on streets without them - you just have to pay attention to your surroundings, keep your speed moderate, and be prepared to react quickly if a car does something unexpected.

I think the solution for this is really twofold - it's not a question of more bike lanes OR more enforcement of laws against sidewalk riding. We need both.

[John Godfrey Spragge]

I have three requests:

1) To my fellow cyclists:
Please don't ride on the sidewalk. I know road traffic can feel terribly frightening, especially in Toronto's outer suburbs, but trust the numbers. Sidewalk cyclists suffer significantly more mishaps. Riding on the sidewalk does not make you safer. And as a price for the illusion of safety, you could end up killing someone.

2) To my fellow motorists:
We who drive kill far more pedestrians than anyone kills by cycling. Let's not forget that while two pedestrians killed by cyclists in three years makes two too many, drivers killed three times that number in as many days recently. So let us not get smug; our two tonne steel bombs do far more damage than any bicycle. And to the extent that we harass and harry riders off the street, to the extent our irresponsible habits make parents afraid to let their kids ride on the roads, we share some of the responsibility when a cyclist and pedestrian collide on the sidewalk.

3) To the Toronto Star:
In a blog entry of May, 2010, your chief auto correspondent, Jim Kenzie, wrote this: "From an overall safety perspective, it obviously makes far more sense for cyclists to ride on the sidewalk than on the road. Bike-into-pedestrian will cause far less damage than car-into-bike." Please don't publish stories about a fatality caused by sidewalk cycling as if nobody in your employ had ever advocated the practice.

[Brian]

I'm a cyclist, and I use the sidewalk. I am courteous and safe. I ride because I can’t afford more, and I ride to improve my health. I've also been hit by cars while on the road - which is significantly less healthy, and the time off work is good for nobody.

The issue is one of growing pains in a city that is maturing; the high costs in this city demand a new and shifting standard of living. Especially with news of a death, it's easy to vilify a group: 'cyclists.' I warn those who straddle their high horse to remember history of those who site one incident as a trigger to endorse hatred of an indiscriminant group of people.