My roommate recently had a near collision with a cyclist at the intersection of Mont-Royal and Saint-Urbain. She, as a pedestrian, had the right of way; the cyclist did not. As a morning bike commuter myself, I have seen firsthand some of the liberties cyclists take with traffic laws. This is dangerous. While some cyclists may be occupied with getting to class on time or thinking about work commitments, it only takes a few seconds for a collision and fatal injury to occur. In recent years, Montreal has made efforts to provide the proper infrastructure and safety measures to ensure cyclists can share the road. Cyclists must do their part, too, by abiding by the rules of the road.

In 2013, the Montreal municipal government allocated a $10 million annual budget to invest in new bike paths and make certain sections of the city safer for cyclists. In recent years, there has been significant growth in the number of cyclists in the city, with cyclists now representing 2.9 per cent of morning commuters in Montreal compared to 2.5 percent in Ottawa and 2.2 percent in Toronto in 2015. Many McGill students are part of this demographic. This is progress, and as Montreal makes room for cyclists to share the road, positive benefits flow to all types of commuters.

There is a double standard between vehicles and cyclists, however: The former must follow the rules and largely does so, while the latter often behave as though the rules do not apply to them. I see this type of behaviour on a regular basis; for example, bikers often fail to stop at a red light or refuse to slow down for a pedestrian who has the right of way.

This is concerning. Cyclists operating on the road must abide by traffic laws, because lives are at stake. In a recent opinion piece for the New York Times, Lucy Madison recounts the devastating cycling collision that took her mother’s life on a busy street in downtown Washington, DC. Similarly, here in Montreal, CBC reported a sharp 50 per cent increase in cycling deaths and a 43 percent increase in serious injuries last year. Moreover, a reckless cyclist not only runs the significant risk of injuring themselves, but also of fatally injuring a pedestrian or another cyclist.