Windsor cyclists advocating for women-friendly cycling roads
CBC News | Posted: August 20, 2022 5:00 PM | Last Updated: August 20, 2022
Some learned to ride a bike for the first time
Members of Young Women in Motion (YWIM), a local Windsor group are advocating that the city make it more bike-friendly for women.
"I think it makes it a more bike-friendly place for women and looking for where the barriers [are] and removing them," said Mursal Amin, a program participant.
The Women's Enterprise Skills Training of Windsor Inc. (WEST) is running the program. In addition to learning bike safety and fixing bicycles, participants were also given training on giving media interviews, social media storytelling, public speaking and event planning.
Alla Shehada did not know how to ride a bike before participating in the program.
"It's a good time for us to meet the community here and learn some new skills and challenge ourselves," said Shehada.
WATCH | Members of Young Women in Motion talk about learning cycling saftey:
Some want to see barriers put up between the car and bike lanes.
"Because we are moving to the future, we need to fix everything so we'd be on the same page with all of our cities," said Obaida Dabaja.
WEST is partnering with Bike-Windsor Essex to run the program. An advocate from the cycling group issued a request to nominees of the municipal election.
"What these women need from you is to remember that when you build a bike lane, when you re-construct a road, you should be putting bike lanes on the street so that not only do young women feel safe, but an eight-year-old feels safe," said Darren Winger of Bike Windsor-Essex.
YWIM members will celebrate their completion of the program by participating in a bike ride on Aug. 31 at 5 p.m. The ride will start at Bike–Windsor Essex and end at the Ambassador Bridge.