[greenon-l] FW: Of Bikes and Cars in the Eyes of the Law

[Conservation Council of Ontario]

Ontario's Conservation Movement

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The following article can be found on our website at
http://weconserve.ca/articles/?p=29  

 

Of Bikes and Cars in the Eyes of the Law
December 13, 2006

I went to court today. Last January, I'd received a ticket for going through
a red light on my bicycle. It was at a pedestrian crossing, not an
intersection, but a violation nonetheless and I was indeed guilty of the
infraction. The fine was $150 and three demerit points.

I consider myself to be a safe and alert rider, but like the vast majority
of cyclists I will occasionally take liberties. We cyclists consider
ourselves more like people with wheels than cars without engines. Probably
only Jack Layton and Olivia Chow can claim to have never rolled through a
light, and maybe even then...

I went to court not to fight the ticket, or even plead for a reduced
sentence, but to witness how bikes and cyclists are treated in comparison
with cars and drivers.

It started with a pre-trial consultation with the prosecutor and the
arresting officer. The officer said that I had "blown though the red light"
and the prosecutor frowned.

Only then did he tell her that I had been on a bike. "A bike?", she
exclaimed, and her demeanor changed. Then she was told it was a pedestrian
light and not a traffic intersection and that no one had been endangered.
The prosecutor recommended a $50 fine and we all agreed.

Then came the trial. The prosecutor made her recommendation to the judge,
who cut her short saying "Absolutely and categorically not". Bicycles, he
said, were vehicles and the law applied equally to cyclists as it did to
drivers.

The judge could have been lenient, but in a way I am thankful to him for
staying to the letter of the law. He could not have made the point any
clearer: in Ontario, a planet-saving 20 lb. bicycle is subject to the same
laws and penalties as a gas-guzzling 4,000 lb. car.

Is a bike as dangerous as a car? Look at the Ministry of Transportation
stats for 2003 (from the
<http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/orsar/orsar03/>  Ontario Road
Safety Annual Report 2003). The primary measure of road safety used by the
Ministry is the number of fatalities per 10,000 drivers. In 2003, this
number was 0.97, the lowest rate since records started being kept in 1990.
In 2004, there were 6 million registered passenger cars in Ontario (one for
every two people). There was a total of 246,463 collisions resulting in
77,879 injuries (including 4,798 pedestrians) and 831 fatalities (including
120 pedestrians). 3,654 people were admitted to hospital, requiring 44,096
days of hospital care.In 2003, thirteen cyclists were killed in collisions
with motor vehicles and another 2,398 injured.

It goes without saying that in 2003 there were no deaths caused by a cyclist
or any record of anyone in a car being injured by a cyclist, and the
Ministry does not keep statistics on cyclist-pedestrian injuries.

Statistically speaking, a bicycle is nowhere near as dangerous as a car. On
the contrary, cyclists themselves are the ones at risk. Safe cycling habits
are important, but the solution does not lie in equating a bike with a car
and a cyclist with a driver.

Safe cycling should be supported as a transportation, health, and
environmental priority for Ontario. Bikes reduce traffic congestion and they
produce no emissions. Cycling is good exercise and helps reduce the health
care costs associated with obesity.

We need more 20 lb. vehicles on our roads.

Ontario's towns and cities are already well populated with cyclists, and
many more people would join them if the streets were safer for cycling. In a
poll conducted for the Conservation Council last May, 47% of the respondents
in the GTA said they would ride a bike more often if their were safe routes.

Ontario needs a safe cycling strategy that recognize bicycles as a distinct
and preferred method of transportation in law, policies, and programs.In
particular, the Ministry of Transportation needs to set out a standard
policy on cycling infrastructure (uninterrupted shared or dedicated bike
lanes on all major streets that give priority and safe passage to cyclists).
It needs to assist Ontario municipalities in implementing a province-wide
cycling infrastructure program. It needs to define offences and set fines
that both address safe cycling and protect cyclists from dangerous drivers.

With these steps in place, organizations like the Conservation Council and
bicycling groups across the Province can then promote cycling as a preferred
form of transportation with the knowledge that the provincial and municipal
governments have taken all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of the
cyclist.

Until then, keep your head up, cycle safely, and take your lane when you
need to. You are, after all, just another vehicle on the road.

Chris Winter 

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