editorial
Pedal pushers Bike-friendly cities benefit cyclists and drivers alike
S
pring is in the air (finally), so it’s time to dust off those bikes and hit the road. Which for us means it’s time to start talking, once again, about making our city more bike-friendly. In case you haven’t noticed, there are more and more cyclists on the road every year. People who drive surely notice this, cyclists notice it — even our city council notices it. And that’s why, in recent days, there has been a lot of talk about bike lanes in our cities. Here in Saskatoon, the city is currently considering adding a couple of protected bike lanes to the downtown core. A petition from Saskatoon Cyclists is encouraging that these lanes be found on 4th Avenue and 24th Street. And while we applaud our city for thinking about adding lanes downtown, we feel like there’s more we could do. Look — our province loves biking. According to Transport Canada, approximately 2.4 percent of Saskatoon’s commuters are cyclists — the second highest percentage in the country. In Regina cyclists account for 1.4 percent of all commuters, a number that ranks them in the top 15 cities in Canada in that category. With this many pedal pushers on the road, it would serve our cities well to focus not just on the
downtown core, but on putting additional bike lanes throughout the entire city. Apart from our downtown area and a handful of other pockets around Saskatoon, we are seriously lacking when it comes to commuting by bike. Cycling between many of our city’s major hubs can be scary and downright unsafe. After all, bikes who comply with the laws and stick to the streets often impede the flow of traffic for vehicles, forcing quick lane changes and endangering both drivers and cyclists alike. Those who stick to the sidewalks out of self preservation risk injuring pedestrians and getting ticketed by police. Clearly, we need to make changes that will accommodate cyclists of all different abilities, in all different areas of the city. The benefits of these changes would be twofold. First off, improving bike transit in all areas of the city would benefit drivers. If more people were able to cycle around the city safely, then there would be less traffic hassle for all commuters. You could get from point A to point B quicker and more efficiently, not having to worry about hitting a biker or getting stuck behind one in traffic. Then there’s the issue of safety. Installing more bike lanes — not only downtown but on other busy outlying streets and streets
connecting major hubs of the city — would make things less dangerous for cyclists. A study from the University of Calgary examined data collected from emergency rooms in Edmonton and Calgary over a three-year period, and determined that bicyclists who collided with motor vehicles with four times more likely to incur serious injury than cyclists who got in other types of accidents. Put in more bike lanes, and the risk of this decreases. It’s as simple as that. So let’s not halfass it when it comes to bike lanes projects. Let’s not just focus on the downtown core. Let’s make things safer by having separate and visible designated bike lanes that can provide linkages between all the high-volume traffic areas in the city. Doing so will help traffic flow more freely, and improve the safety of everyone in transit. These editorials are left unsigned because they represent the opinions of Verb magazine, not those of the individual writers.
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