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Saskatoon city council has endorsed a one-metre buffer for cyclists when overtaking pedestrians, but the chasm between evidence and decision-making in this case seems much wider.

The push to update Saskatoon’s bicycle bylaw dates back two years to when the Saskatoon Cycles advocacy group lobbied to refresh the city’s 31-year-old rules, which were last updated in 2011.

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Last year, city hall began consulting with 13 groups, including the school divisions, SGI, the Saskatchewan Health Authority, the Meewasin Valley Authority, the Saskatoon Council on Aging, the Saskatoon and District Safety Council and Walking Saskatoon.

These consultations produced a 49-page report on how to update the bike bylaw. The noteworthy new rules would permit children and youth under 14 to ride on sidewalks and require motor vehicles to maintain a one-metre buffer around cyclists when possible.

During discussion of the new rules at November’s city council meeting, Coun. Randy Donauer proposed the pedestrian-cyclist buffer.