The Town of Canmore is considering amending its traffic and road use bylaw this year to better clarify regulations around electric bikes, cycling through pedestrian crossings and bike lane regulations.
Manager of engineering Andy Esarte presented the changes being considered to council at its March committee of the whole meeting.
Esarte said from time-to-time the bylaw should be updated to address issues regarding traffic, parking and the use of roads in Canmore.
In particular, he said, the design and use of bike infrastructure in Canmore, and in other communities, has resulted in the need for updates to legislation.
“Municipalities across Canada are building more of this type of infrastructure and it is not fully regulated in the traffic safety act; in fact, there is fairly limited reference to cycling in the act,” he said.
Since the changes being looked at were presented at committee of the whole, they were not considered for approval yet. The bylaw will return to council in the near future for approvals after input is included in it.
Key recommendations from administration would clarify the use of pedal electric bicycles – giving those riding pedal electric bikes the same rights and obligations as other cyclists – which don’t exist in the legislation currently.
Cycling through crossings is also proposed to be changed in the bylaw. Esarte said there are no provisions in the traffic safety act that require a cyclist to dismount from their bike at a crossing. What is important to note, he added, is that if a cyclist is riding through a crossing, they must yield to vehicular traffic. In other words, they are not considered the same as a pedestrian in that location if they are riding their bike.
Esarte said the change to the bylaw would make it clear that cyclists could ride through all mixed use and dedicated cycle crossings, while making it clear they must yield to vehicles.
“There are no regulations in the traffic safety act requiring someone to dismount at a crossing,” he said. “It has been interpreted by local RCMP, administration and other jurisdictions that people have the right to cycle through a crossing.”
The change didn’t sit well with Councillor Ed Russell, who found it hard to accept the information being presented by administration.
“Without a court ruling, I am leery to define this,” Russell said. “This is dangerous ground.”
Esarte said when cyclists are in the roadway, they are indeed operating with the same rights and obligations as a motor vehicle, but it is when they are using multi-use pathways or dedicated bike lanes that causes confusion.
“For clarity, administration is only proposing to explicitly permit cycling in dedicated bike crossings and multi-use pathway crossings,” he said.
As to how someone knows they are on a multi-use crossing or bike lane crossing, Esarte said they are marked differently in Canmore than a regular pedestrian crossing. Bike lanes, so far, have used green as a colour to mark them as separate space and multi-use pathway crossings use “elephant feet.”
Those are dashes or blocks painted on the crosswalk at the ends of the crosswalk marking itself. The crosswalk traditionally is a zebra bar marking, while the elephant feet are dashes at the end.
The two different types of crossings can be seen throughout Canmore. Other changes include including provincial parking statutes, so seasonal bylaw officers can enforce them, and changes to restrictions on parking vehicles with trailers that use length of the trailer as a restriction, not the type of vehicle being parked on streets and roads within the community.
