Calgary drivers, cyclists encouraged to share the road as temperatures warm up

Spring has sprung and Calgary pathways are filled with cyclists and bike riders, but so too are city streets.

With the biking season here, Calgary police are issuing a reminder to share the road with cyclists and give them extra time to react.

"Making sure that they're staying at least one meter away from them and giving them that road, away from the curb so that they're not crowding them and pushing them over," said Sgt. Dallas Grimm, with the Calgary Police Service.

"This year, we've only had one collision with a cyclist and a vehicle. However, in the past, they've been a little more common. We do get a few a year."

On May 12, a 60-year-old man was hit while riding his bike on Macleod Trail near 210 Ave SE.

He was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition but upgraded to stable. The incident occurred in the merge lane onto Macleod Trail Northbound.

In 2023, there were 259 total collisions involving vehicles and cyclists, which included 182 injury collisions and one fatality.

Those totals were down slightly from 2022, which saw 272 collisions involving vehicles and cyclists, including 180 injury collisions and zero fatalities.

Helping cyclists stay safe

Bob Grunewald, the marketing director at Bow Cycle, said they have club ambassadors on the streets trying to help as many riders as possible.

"We have a 300 members cycling group and they're kind of our ambassadors on the road," said Grunewald.

"But what we see is a lot of people coming by, a lot more commuters on the roads these days trying to save a couple extra bucks. It's a lot cheaper, you get your exercise in."

Grunewald says Bow Cycle is seeing different trends when it comes to biking popularity.

"Right now we're seeing a lot more people coming in for gravel bikes," he said.

"And for mountain bikes, seems to be more popular again. Mountain bikes retaking over road bikes again."

Cyclist Mark Fedoroshyn says many drivers are just realizing there are more bikes on the road.

"It's just that they've gone through a long winter season of not having bikes on the road and now they're all out there," he said.

"The drivers just need to be definitely aware of that and give them space and realize that, these are very lightweight machines with lightweight people, and they're driving a pretty heavy machine out there."

Fedoroshyn says he has experienced many close calls with vehicles and adds it can sometimes overcome him with emotion. 

"A little bit of anger kind of thing, is usually the first reaction, that they aren't paying attention or looking enough into that," said Fedoroshyn.

"It's usually the one. And then, you can certainly create a little bit of a fear of being comfortable out on the roads."