I am writing to clarify my previous letter. I apologize for putting all pedal bikers into the same category of brainless pedal bikers.
My intention was to pinpoint the pedal bikers who think it is within their rights to ride in the vehicle lane of the highway.
The Motor Vehicles Act states, “a person operating a cycle on a highway shall ride as near as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway.”
People’s lives are at risk every day as we go to our jobs and have to dodge these pedal bikers on the highway. I am taking the necessary steps to keep myself and my family safe.
The Motor Vehicles Act also states that “A person operating a cycle on a highway shall not ride to the side of another cycle travelling in the same direction, but shall ride directly in line to the rear or front of the other cycle, except when overtaking and passing the other cycle.”
I am writing this letter to inform pedal bikers and organizers of road relays, that I will not hesitate for one second to speed-dial the RCMP if I see these laws being broken. It is illegal to ride on the left side of the white line, and beside each other on the highway.
I am not putting my life in jeopardy any longer from this nonsense on the highway. Almost every weekend in the summer, I load my boat and head for a lake only to find a road relay congesting the highway.
It takes me an extra 45 minutes to get where I am going because I have to slow to 60 km/h an hour or slower just to avoid hitting pedal bikers and their support vehicles. The constant braking is extremely hard on my equipment, not to mention the poor tractor trailer drivers with their big rigs.
Road relayers are very selfish people who think it’s okay to ride left of the white line, and have support vehicles parked all over the highway. Is it really going to take for someone to die, or serious injury to occur for you to realize how dangerous your actions are?
Bylaws have now been passed or are passing for ATVers and snowmobilers. I had to take a course for safe boat operation.
I have to register and insure all my “toys” that I have. I am asking the government and the public: why are the same rules not applied to pedal bikers?
There is way more danger on highways from road relays than any boating activity that I have ever seen.
Most dangerous of all are pedal bikers mingling with traffic. They seem to think they are right and have no respect for people in vehicles that actually pay insurance to drive on these roads.
You may try to take my freedom of where, how and when I can ride my dirt bike, ATV, boat and streetbike ... but darned if the rest of town ain’t living by the same rules.
Rita Smith
Whitehorse