Saskatoon cyclist on receiving end of angry motorist's rant
Cycling enthusiasts in Saskatoon are sensing a backlash over the recent introduction of dedicated bike lanes in parts of the downtown.
Rachel Engler-Stringer said she and her daughter were on their bikes in downtown Saskatoon when they were on the receiving end of an angry yell from a passing motorist.
"Two young men in a car started yelling, 'Get out. Get into your lane,'" Engler-Stringer told CBC News Friday.
She said she was confused because she was confident she was riding in a safe manner.
"I couldn't figure out what was going on because I was in my lane, I was exactly where I was supposed to be," she said, adding she believes the people in the car may have thought she should have been riding on a street, two blocks away, where the city recently added a dedicated lane for cyclists.
"I think what they were trying to tell me was that I had no right to ride my bicycle anywhere except for the cycling lane on 23rd, which of course is not true," Engler-Stinger said.
The apparent lack of understanding is something that Hilary Gough, co-chair of Saskatoon Cycles, would like to see addressed.
"We need to be educating people about how to use different types of infrastructure, how to safely move around a cyclist that is taking up a lane that you're driving on and asking people to be patient as they're driving to and from work," Gough said.
Gough noted, as Engler-Stringer did, that cyclists are permitted to use a lane anywhere in Saskatoon except where there are signs that explicitly say otherwise. Saskatoon's freeways, for example, do not allow cycling.
There are also rules requiring cyclists to dismount and walk their bikes on most sidewalks.
CBC News approached some drivers about sharing the road and many people said they did not have issues with cyclists.
"I don't mind [them]. They're not in the way," one said.
"They don't irritate me and they have every right to be there," another said.
The city has published, on its website, an instructional video about the protected bike lanes. The city notes that bicycles are considered vehicles, so cyclists and motorists must follow the same rules of the road.
With files from CBC's Victoria Dinh