Police will launch a one-week campaign related to safe driving and safe cycling on Monday. It will last over until Sunday, June 19, 2016. Below is the TPS release.
The Service will be launching the S.P.A.C.E. to Cycle campaign, starting on Monday, June 13, 2016. The campaign (Safety, Prevention, Awareness, Courtesy, Education) will conclude on Sunday, June 19, 2016. This one-week campaign is designed to promote awareness and education by reducing the potential for cycling and wheel-sport-related injuries. Building partnerships and mobilizing local communities to respond to local traffic problems will assist in sustaining successful efforts and improve neighbourhood roadway safety
CARS AND BIKES
Education and enforcement of cycling offences are critical to ensuring safe roadways for our communities. All frontline officers will be paying particular attention to those motorists whose actions endanger the lives of cyclists, for example, drivers failing to proceed through turns safely, opening vehicle doors improperly, and driving/parking in designated cycling lanes, all contribute to reduce cycling safety. Officers will also be paying attention to cyclists who commit offences that endanger all road-users, including the cyclists themselves. Parking Enforcement Officers will assist with this initiative by concentrating on parking offences that may compromise the safety of cyclists.
SIDEWALKS
Editors remarks: One of the great dilemmas of cycling is the final safe refuge for cyclists of the sidewalk. It’s common on Bayview Ave. Cycling on the sidewalk, which is illegal, is tolerable if it is done slowly and doesn’t approach pedestrians from behind. Otherwise, walkers can choose to hide in a doorway or try to read just where the cyclist will go. Not a good bet. It is an issue on which more than one public meeting with the police has broken down. Cyclists say they don’t feel safe on the road and pedestrians don’t feel safe dodging bikes.
