Should cyclists be banned?
This week, Kelly McParland published the article "Unlicensed, unprotected cyclists should be banned from city streets" in the National Post. The article is a commentary on Councillor Michael Walker's proposal to license cyclists on Toronto streets. The proposal, and the article, have attracted much attention.
Our 2¢ ...
The City of Toronto's very own website has a long list of significant issues and challenges that would need to be dealt with if we are to consider licensing cyclists. These issues include: Cost (in many cases, the license would be more expensive than the bicycle itself), Age (imagine trying to create a single standardized test that is fair for both adults and 6 year children), Jurisdiction (the province, not the city, is the natural jurisdiction for licensing), and Enforcement (enforcing cyclist licensing would less time for police enforcing other more important traffic laws).
It would be worth looking at how to overcome all these challenges if licensing of cyclists did indeed keep cyclists safer. But it doesn't.
As a variety of studies have shown, legislating cyclists almost always leads to decreased numbers of cyclists. In jurisdiction after jurisdiction, it has been shown that as the number of cyclists and/ or pedestrians decrease, motorists tend to drive more quickly and aggressively, and walking and cycling become more dangerous. This well known phenomenon is referred to by traffic researchers as the “safety in numbers effect”.
As a researcher with a stong interest in cycling health and safety, it is my belief that the poorly designed legislation proposed by councilor Walker is will discourage cycling and in the process make cycling even less safe for the remaining few who still choose to ride their bikes.
Chris Cavacuiti BA, MD, CCFP, MHSc, ASAM, FCFP
Staff Physician, St. Michaels Hospital Department of Family and Community Medicine
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto
