Advertisement

Bike-only stoplights on de Maisonneuve have cyclists seeing red

Click to play video: 'Cyclists fed up with traffic lights on de Maisonneuve Boulevard'
Cyclists fed up with traffic lights on de Maisonneuve Boulevard
Wed, Sep 12: Commuters of the cycling kind beware: new lights along De Maisonneuve Boulevard are giving people a $127 headache. As Global's Billy Shields reports, cyclists say the lights are not visible because they are on the other side of the path – Sep 12, 2018

Lauren McIntosh got a $127 notice that traffic lights had changed along the de Maisonneuve bike path, as recently, police issued her a fine for burning a stoplight at the intersection of Union Street.

Cyclists are struggling to adjust to new bike-only traffic lights on de Maisonneuve. Billy Shields/Global News

“I can see the reason because de Maisonneuve is very dangerous,” she told Global News. “But I didn’t know it was there… there really could have been something else.”

Story continues below advertisement

According to traffic attorney Avi Levy, the city has a responsibility to warn cyclists as the signals along a road or bike path change. “If that wasn’t in fact done, then it does open the door to a defence,” he said.

Story continues below advertisement

But city spokesperson Audrey Gauthier wrote Global News that the city isn’t obligated to put up notices of a simple modification of a light, and that the new lights have been on the street since Aug. 24.

Nonetheless, Gauthier added, the city is examining the possibility of putting up signs warning cyclists of the new lights.

But some cyclists, like Geneviève Albert, told Global News the lights do more harm than good. “I just have the impression that the people who make these decisions do not use a bicycle in their daily lives,” she said.

Sponsored content

AdChoices