Here in Alberta many of us spend most of the winter riding indoors and look forward to the days when we can hit the open roads. However, roads have vehicular traffic and with that comes risks. Sadly, even when we as cyclists do our part to follow all the traffic rules, there are still accidents between cars and cyclists.

Below is a report spearheaded by Annie McKitrick, an avid cyclist, and MLA for Sherwood Park.  The report recommends some changes to the Traffic Safety Act that  would hopefully improve cyclist safety.  A fellow Doctrine Computrainer rider shared the link to the complete report (below) and briefly described a few of the recommendations:

“A safe passing distance of 1.0 meters if speed is 60 kph or less and 1.5 meters if speed is more than 60 kph.

Allow two abreast bike riding. The report gives examples where this improves safety including on rural roads where bikes should want to take up more of the lane so cars must slow and pass safely using the oncoming lane, as opposed to trying to squeeze by the bike in the same lane.

Changing the rule that cyclists must ride to the right “as far as practical” to “as far right as is safe”.

If you would like further details, here is the complete report:

Alberta Cycling Coalition Proposed Amendments to the Traffic Safety Act