Lobbyist groups in Ottawa are urging the mayor and council to install more segregated bike lanes in the city to prevent accidents like the recent Mario Théoret tragedy.
The Ottawa Bicycle Lanes Project, a non-profit community-based initiative, came together this past August to push for safe segregated bicycle lane networks in Ottawa.
The organization has launched an online petition to raise awareness of Ottawa’s cycling dangers and already has over 1,000 signatures and posts.
Michael Napiorkowski, co-founder of the project, says that accidents like Théoret’s that occurred on Merivale Road and Hunt Club Road is an example of why they are pushing so hard for change. “It should mean something to everyone that this is happening and it should be enough that it happened once that we take direct action, let alone happening over and over again, year after year. More and more cyclists are being killed and seriously injured,” he says.
Napiorkowski says that a complete network of protected bike lanes is the best answer to increase bike safety in the city.
“The strength and power comes from the network and how it brings people from one place to another in a safe way. When people know they can be safe, that is when you see lots of people start to get on a bike,” he says.
Ottawa’s only protected bike lane was introduced temporarily on Laurier Avenue in 2011 and city council is now planning to make it permanent.
Capital Coun. David Chernushenko says Ottawa is seeing a surge in cycling interest and there are more plans in place for segregated bike lanes, but they may take several years.
“The plans vary from really ambitious east-west bikeway where we have plotted a route through downtown starting as far away as Hintonburg and Mechanicsville taking you right through to Vanier and Overbrook,” he says.
“This is ensuring there is a route where the cyclist does not encounter any points that are especially dangerous or scary.”
Chernushenko says the most exciting plan is on Main Street, where a complete street design was approved to incorporate bike lanes.
“We will be taking out two lanes of permanent traffic and putting in a cycle track, a slightly elevated lane. In the end we expect it will move just as many people over the course of the day; only with a much more attractive, calmer and safer feeling on the street.”
Napiorkowski says the petition will run until next year and wants to use it to show the elected officials that there is support for protected bike lanes and that residents want action sooner rather than later.
“We are going to be using the petition to speak with the candidates who are running for city council next year to show them that there is growing support for protected bike lanes and that it has to be an essential component of their platform for their election,” he says.
Jennifer Cavanagh, a regular cyclist in Ottawa, signed the petition for safe bike lanes and says she believes the city can do better with regards to bike safety.
“I have a five-year-old daughter, I often have her hooked up to a trailer bike so if I have her with me, I have to make a completely different analysis of the routes,” she says.
Cavanagh says safety is not the only benefit of introducing more bike lanes.
“It is key to renewing areas like the ByWard Market. There is no doubt that the stalls and the local business down there would benefit immensely if they could get easy bike traffic through the non-winter months by residents from Centretown to Sandy Hill to Lowertown,” she says.