While in Montreal for the recent Go vélo Montréal Festival, Christophe Najdovski, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of transportation, roadways and public spaces, gave a talk on Paris's cycling turnaround that really impressed us. Paris' ambitious 2015-2020 Bicycle Plan aims to triple the number of daily bike trips by 2020. To achieve this, the city is relying on a panoply of facilities and measures to encourage active mobility. The Paris Bicycle Plan 2015-2020 is based on a year's worth of data gathering, public consultation and analysis, as well as almost unanimous support from the city council.
The deputy mayor, who says he draws inspiration from Amsterdam and Copenhagen, says he «wants to make the city more pleasant, gentler, livelier and offer Parisians their city from a new angle».
If Paris is able to increase the modal share of cycling from 5 to 15 % in 5 years, there's nothing to stop Quebec cities from setting themselves similarly ambitious targets. In fact, an increasing number of elected officials believe that developing active mobility in their city will make it more user-friendly and attractive. Elected officials no longer hesitate to publicly advocate the reduction of on-street parking in favor of one-way bicycle lanes, the generalization of the 30 km/h speed limit in residential neighborhoods, various traffic calming measures and, of course, the development of a bicycle network enabling smooth and safe utilitarian travel. So we have truly entered the century of active mobility.
«We want cyclists to feel they have a place everywhere in the city,» concludes Christophe Najdovski. Let's dream that all Quebec mayors will one day say the same thing!
Highway Safety Code: amendments adopted!
The bill to modernize cab transport services and ensure the safety of customers and cyclists was passed on June 10.
The new legislation increases the penalties for door-tampering from 200 $ to 300 $ for all occupants of a road vehicle who open their door without ensuring that they can do so safely.
The other amendment prohibits the driver of a road vehicle from overtaking a cyclist within the same traffic lane, unless he reduces the speed of his vehicle and maintains a reasonable distance between his vehicle and the cyclist during this manoeuvre. This reasonable distance is 1.5 m on a road with a speed limit of over 50 km/h, and 1 m on a road with a speed limit of 50 km/h or less.
That's great news!
Have a great summer!
Suzanne Lareau
President and General Manager
