Angus Reid Institute survey sheds light on Metro Vancouver's views of bike lanes

When it comes to Vancouver and bike lanes, it seems everyone has an opinion.

Now, a new survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute is shedding more light on just what those opinions might be.

According to the survey conducted by the institute, 56 per cent of people in Metro Vancouver feel there is "quite a bit of conflict" between cyclists and drivers in urban areas.

Of those who say there is a conflict, 65 per cent say cyclists are to blame.

That opinion has a generational divide, with Canadians 55 and older far more likely to side with the driver.

Majority support separated bike lanes

Residents of  Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary were considerably more likely to say there are "too many" separated bike lanes where they live than those who live in other large cities across the country.

But 53 per cent of people in Metro Vancouver said they thought separated bike lanes are a good thing. 

Kay Teschke, a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia's school of Population and Public health, said she thought overall, the results of the survey were positive.

"With separated bike lanes it's very clear that there's a space for people cycling and there's another space for people driving and it really allows everyone to just relax on either side of the separation," she said.

"Where there are conflicts between people driving and people cycling, it's often where they're not separated, where people don't know where they belong on the road. There are differences of opinion and the law is often not very clear."

The poll sampled 5,423 Canadians, and carries a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

With files from Cory Correia