If you’re travelling along Wyse Road in Dartmouth, N.S., over the next couple of days, you may notice a new traffic signal you’ve never seen before.
A traffic light specifically for cyclists was installed at the corner of Wyse and Bolland roads on Friday. It temporarily stops vehicles from turning right from Wyse Road onto Bolland, giving cyclists the right of way.
“It’s just kind of nice to see Nova Scotia and HRM specifically use these bicycle signals,” said Kyle Miller, who’s been a cyclist in the Halifax Regional Municipality for years.
“Hopefully we’re going to see a lot less collisions.”
It wasn’t until recently when the Nova Scotia government amended the Motor Vehicle Act to make the traffic light legal in the province. David MacIsaac, the supervisor of active transportation in the HRM, says a total of nine will be installed along the Wyse Road bike lane.
Most should be operational “in the next week or so,” MacIsaac says, adding “they’re not needed everywhere.”
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“They’re really to help bicyclists and all road users kind of navigate in more complex environments, sort of like you’d see at the bridge on Wyse Road.” said MacIsaac. “They’re also needed usually on bi-directional bikeways at a signal, to kind of create a protected phase for the bicyclist.”
Cycling advocates say that even though the cyclist traffic signal will improve safety, they are calling it a “small drop in the bucket” of what needs to happen to improve safety.
“It’s a first step,” said Jillian Banfield, a safe cycling advocate in Halifax. “One bicycle light at one intersection is not going to make a huge difference, but hopefully it’s the start of a trend.”
Both Banfield and Miller are calling on the city to do a better job when it comes to communicating the new pieces of infrastructure to motorists, as well as to speed up the installment of productive bike lanes.
“Right now we’re seeing one lane here and there, takes years and years between getting one lane and getting another,” said Banfield.
“We need better education, honestly for everybody. Cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers. They need to know the most because they’re the ones driving the big machines,” added Miller.
MacIsaac says the city is “working hard” on the infrastructure, adding more protected bike lanes and multi-use pathways where possible.
However, he says the cyclist traffic light shouldn’t arrive in Halifax until around 2023.