Cycling

Your recent bicycle column stirred me to ask a question about cyclists passing on the right. I was in Kelowna, travelling north on Harvey Avenue and wanted to turn right into a strip mall. Harvey Avenue is three lanes wide here and the curb lane is an HOV lane.

Cyclists are entitled to their share of the highway, just as motor vehicle drivers are. When they are overtaken by a motor vehicle, it is the driver's responsibility to pass the cyclist safely. It is not the cyclists responsibility to get out of the way of the driver if the cyclist is legally occupying the lane.

The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide is based on the experience of the best cycling cities in the world. This sentence begins the introduction on the NACTO web site section for the guide. A valuable resource for professional planners, engineers and advocates alike, it will help design complete streets that are safe and enjoyable for cyclists.

Recently there have been a couple articles regarding bicycles and motorcycles riding side by side. To the best of my knowledge this is not illegal for the motorbike but when the bicycle does it and encroaches into the traffic lane. Because the bike is unable to maintain, in most cases the same speed as a motor vehicle this makes it a huge hazard but I don’t know or remember if this is illegal.

This case decides liability after a collision between a cyclist and a large commercial truck. Christina MacEachern was riding or walking beside a bicycle along the King George Highway in Surrey, B.C. She was opposing traffic on the shoulder of the roadway which was narrow due to vehicles parked next to it.

Question: I have recently read a number of articles regarding prohibited drivers using ebikes as a sources of transportation. Some people have questioned if this was legal or not as they assumed these ebikes were governed under the Motor Vehicles Branch regulations.

Something must have struck a nerve lately as I have received a number of requests to deal with cyclists passing other traffic on the right hand side. One near miss on a right turn even had the cyclist shaking their fist and cursing the driver.

Here's an new angle on a continual problem, that of other road users failing to yield to emergency vehicles. Most of the time this question is asked about cars and trucks, but this fire department official asks the question about a different subset of traffic, cyclists.

In my community I have noticed an occasional phenomenon of drivers being too 'polite' to bicycles at certain intersections.

For years I've thought about sending this question to you. This is regarding the issue of "walk on left, ride on right". I have always understood that on any road/path with no sidewalk that is shared by pedestrians and vehicles (including bicycles), the pedestrians should keep to the left facing traffic, and the vehicles keep to the right.