Mississauga residents are frustrated with sidewalk-riding cyclists

Thestar.com
August 1, 2018
Maryam Mirza

Residents in Mississauga are becoming increasingly frustrated with an old problem -- cyclists on sidewalks, but a member of the Mississauga cycling advisory committee says the fault is not entirely on the cyclists themselves but rather on the lack -- or nonexistent in Mississauga’s case -- of protected bike lanes available for safe cycling on main roads.

Marie Gogo, resident of the Malton neighbourhood in Mississauga, says when summer comes around, she grows increasingly concerned with the safety of both, pedestrians and cyclists.

In 2017, 1,500 riders gathered in Mississauga's Celebration Square for the Tour de Mississauga bike ride. One cycling advocate says the city’s lack of cycling infrastructure is at least partly leading to complaints of cyclings riding on sidewalks.

“Nobody wears helmets,” Gogo said. “And many have no safety lights for driving at night or reflective clothing at all. Sometimes families ride together in the twilight of the dark.”

Gogo says cyclists stick to the sidewalk with pedestrians rather than go around the grass or use the roads around Westwood Mall area.

“Often I’m startled by a bike coming up behind me or whizzing by me,” she said. “Or somebody rings and expects me to get out of the way.”

She added with electric bicycles, she can barely hear them come up behind.

Peel Regional Police spokesperson Const. Harinder Sohi says they don’t keep track of collisions of cyclists with pedestrians because a motor vehicle isn’t involved, but says a pedestrian who is struck should call and report it to the police.

According to a City of Mississauga’s bylaw, cyclists should not be riding their bike on sidewalks. If they are on sidewalks, they should be walking beside it.

Jonathan Giggs, member of Mississauga’s cycling advisory committee and longtime cyclist, says the reason cyclists are on sidewalks is because they are afraid to share the road with drivers.

“Every two weeks we have about 50 to 150 cyclists come out to organized community rides who range from experts to beginner cyclists,” he said. “The reason why they cycle on the sidewalk is they just do not feel safe.”

Giggs explains it comes down to the fact that there are no protected bike lanes in the city.

“We have multi-use trails, we have boulevard trails, but we do not have one protected bike lane,” he said. “We have bike lanes that have a line of paint, but no barrier or protection at all.”

If a cyclist is riding down Confederation Pkwy., he says, there are cars passing you at 60, 70 or 80 kilometres per hour, regardless of posted speed.

Giggs added that cycling on the sidewalk is more dangerous and that is why it’s illegal.

“But, tell that to someone who’s going down a bike lane and a truck just passed them at 80 kilometres an hour -- it’s the lesser of two evils -- and they’ll take their chances,” he said.

What will change that, Giggs says, is construction of protected bike lanes which is part of the City of Mississauga’s updated Cycling Master Plan, approved by council on July 4.

Giggs says the city’s previous cycling plan did well by building “beautiful” recreational trails that go through parks but not the right cycling infrastructure that can be used for commuting.

“So if you’re going out for a cruise on the park it’s great -- but if you’re trying to actually get to work, you’re not going to get anywhere because it doesn’t connect anything and you’re eventually going to be forced out to unsafe streets.”

Manager of Active Transportation at the city Matthew Sweet says the revised plan proposes a “city wide network” that has identified various cycling infrastructure needs, like protected bike lanes.

“We have funding this year to do a detailed design for a protected bike lane of some type on the College Way between Mississauga Rd. and Winston Churchill Blvd.”

Pending the environment assessment, public consultation and council approval construction will begin in 2019.

New cycling infrastructure outlined in the master plan will be co-ordinated with road construction projects, Sweet added.

The citywide network aims to implement a total of 897 kilometres of cycling infrastructure over the next 27 years.

However, as it stands right now and until cycling infrastructure is implemented, Giggs says compared to other jurisdictions “we are lagging behind.

“When you think of cities adopting a vision zero approach -- we’ve got all these wide arterial streets, dedicated turn lanes where cars don’t stop at intersections, and unsafe intersections -- the city of Mississauga has done everything to make sure that the person driving the cars don’t slow down too much. So, the question is, what is the city going to do about that?”