A member of Mississauga's cycling advisory committee is blaming a lack of protected bike lanes in the city for rising frustrations over cyclists' use of sidewalks.

Marie Gogo, a resident of the Malton neighbourhood in Mississauga, says when summer comes around she grows increasingly concerned with the safety of both pedestrians and cyclists.

“Nobody wears helmets,” Gogo said. “And many have no safety lights for driving at night or reflective clothing at all.”

Gogo says cyclists stick to the sidewalks with pedestrians rather than go around the grass or use the roads around Westwood Mall area.

“Often, I’m startled by a bike coming up behind me or whizzing by me,” she said. “Or somebody rings and expects me to get out of the way.”

She added that with electric bicycles, she can barely hear them come up behind her.

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Peel Regional Police spokesperson Const. Harinder Sohi says they don’t keep track of collisions of cyclists with pedestrians because a motor vehicle isn’t involved, but says a pedestrian who is struck should call and report it to the police.

According to the city of Mississauga’s bylaw, cyclists should not be riding their bikes on sidewalks. If they are on sidewalks, they should be walking beside it.

Jonathan Giggs, a member of Mississauga’s cycling advisory committee and a longtime cyclist, says the reason cyclists are on sidewalks is because they are afraid to share the road with drivers.

“Every two weeks we have about 50 to 150 cyclists come out to organized community rides who range from experts to beginner cyclists,” he said. “The reason why they cycle on the sidewalk is they just do not feel safe.”

Giggs explains it comes down to the fact that there are no protected bike lanes in the city.

“We have multi-use trails, we have boulevard trails, but we do not have one protected bike lane,” he said. “We have bike lanes that have a line of paint, but no barrier or protection at all.”

If a cyclist is riding down Confederation Parkway, he says, there are cars passing you at 60, 70 or 80 kilometres per hour, regardless of posted speed.

Giggs added that cycling on the sidewalk is more dangerous and that is why it’s illegal.

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“But tell that to someone who’s going down a bike lane and a truck just passed them at 80 kilometres an hour — it’s the lesser of two evils, and they’ll take their chances,” he said.

What will change that, Giggs says, is the construction of protected bike lanes, which is part of the city of Mississauga’s updated Cycling Master Plan, approved by council on July 4.

Giggs says the city’s previous cycling plan did well by building “beautiful” recreational trails that go through parks but not the right kind of cycling infrastructure that can be used for commuting.

“So if you’re going out for a cruise on the park, it’s great — but if you’re trying to actually get to work, you’re not going to get anywhere because it doesn’t connect anything and you’re eventually going to be forced out to unsafe streets.”

Matthew Sweet, manager of active transportation with the city, says the revised plan proposes a “citywide network” that has identified various cycling infrastructure needs, such as protected bike lanes.

“We have funding this year to do a detailed design for a protected bike lane of some type on the Collegeway between Mississauga Rd. and Winston Churchill Blvd.”

Pending the environment assessment, public consultation and council approval construction will begin in 2019.

New cycling infrastructure outlined in the master plan will be co-ordinated with road construction projects, Sweet added.

The citywide network aims to implement a total of 897 kilometres of cycling infrastructure over the next 27 years.

However, until cycling infrastructure is implemented, Giggs says that compared to other jurisdictions, “we are lagging behind.

“When you think of cities adopting a Vision Zero approach — we’ve got all these wide arterial streets, dedicated turn lanes where cars don’t stop at intersections, and unsafe intersections — the city of Mississauga has done everything to make sure that the (people) driving the cars don’t slow down too much. So, the question is, what is the city going to do about that?”

Maryam Mirza is a reporter with the Mississauga News and Brampton Guardian. Email: mmirza@metroland.com

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