WATCH ABOVE: After a violent incident occurred between a pedestrian and a cyclist at Queen’s Quay, people in the area warn that near-collisions are too common. Peter Kim reports.
TORONTO — Pedro Marques was walking his dog Saturday afternoon when he witnessed the confrontation.
“As I looked, there was a bike skidding across the crosswalk and then this pedestrian and cyclist got into a bit of an argument,” he said.
Marques recorded their altercation on his phone, which shows the frustrated pedestrian punching the cyclist in the face and kicking his bike after he said in the video he was almost run over.
“The cyclist definitely ran a red, he’s at fault for that; but the pedestrian seemed to be looking for a fight. He was very angry,” said Marques.
Cyclists blowing red lights along Queens Quay are extremely common and underscores growing safety concerns in the area related to design, though it’s not clear if this is why the cyclist in question chose not to stop.
Queens Quay fully opened on June 19 after a three-year redevelopment.
Much of the confusion stems from the clutter of signage and right-of-ways in the area.
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“This is the first time I’ve been down here, but it looks like you can get killed,” said Ray, who added that pedestrians need to cross three lanes – one for bikes, vehicles, and streetcars – just to cross Queens Quay at Lower Simcoe Street.
Waterfront Toronto has already implemented a number changes to clear the confusion in the area and plan to introduce more.
“We’ll be adding signs along the Martin Goodman Trail that help people understand where to stop and signs above the streetcar right-of-way that say ‘do not enter,'” said Andrew Hilton, spokesperson for Waterfront Toronto.
When asked why these changes were not included in the original design, Hilton said, “When you build a street like this, it’s not going to be absolutely perfect the first time. There’s always a period of adjustment.”
But four weeks ago, Waterfront Toronto told Global News the exact same thing and could not elaborate on how long they expect the period of adjustment to be.
“If people choose to run a red light that’s clearly in front of them that says ‘bicycle signal,’ that’s a decision that we can do nothing about,” said Hilton.
Fines for running a red are the same regardless of whether you’re a cyclist or a driver: $85.
“It happens constantly,” said Marques.
“If you were to have police here for 15 minutes, you’d catch 30 cyclists running reds. It’s very common.”
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