Some proposed changes to the road safety code are making waves. The Plante administration wants cyclists to be allowed to do rolling stops at stop signs, among other propositions to Quebec as they re-work the rules.
“If it’s safe, if it’s not scaring anybody and if it’s not cutting the road off anyone, then the cyclist can go on without having to stop,” said Marianne Giguere, responsible for active transport at Montreal’s Executive Committee. She believes the change would make roads safer.
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“It helps us to work more as a community at a human scale than just to obey some rule that is not always organic with what is really happening on the street,” Giguere said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
Cycling advocates are on-board.
“You just slow down, evaluate the situation, and if the way is free, you just keep going,” said Magali Bebronne of Velo-Quebec.
Transport Minister Andre Fortin, however, is not on-board.
“Concerning the ‘Idaho Stop,’ we do not have the intention to go forward with that measure in the current modification of the road safety code,” Fortin told Global News in a statement.
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The city also wants to give cyclists the ability to turn right on red, provided no pedestrians are in the way.
“The pedestrian is the one to respect, the one to protect,” said Giguere.
The Plante administration also wants the province to make side bars mandatory on trucks, look into regulating driverless cars, and implement a zero-tolerance policy for driving under the influence of cannabis.
The transport minister said he would take time to analyze the city’s recommendations.