District of North Vancouver councillor wants to make bike bells mandatory

CBC

8 hours ago

A District of North Vancouver (DNV) councillor wants to make bike bells mandatory in his community and wants to see other municipalities in B.C. follow suit.
During a June 23 council meeting, Jim Hanson put forward a motion to create a bylaw mandating bells on bicycles out of concern for pedestrian safety.
"I think it's important as we move towards active transportation, building out our bike lanes [and] that we make our multi-user paths, pedestrian and cycling paths safe for everyone and courteous," he told CBC's On The Coast.
Often, if cyclists don't have bells, they shout "on your left" or some variation of that to let people on foot know there's a bike coming up behind them, so as not to startle them.
But Hanson said some people find that "aggressive."
"Not everyone who's walking along the paths wants to hear people yelling at them," he said, adding that some people, seniors, for example, may hear the sound of a bell better than the sound of someone's voice.
"I just don't believe it to be courteous for cyclists to be hollering out at pedestrians as they go down these paths."
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He pointed to the City of Vancouver, where the bylaw states that cyclists must have a bell on their bicycle.
But not everyone realizes that's the rule; Duncan Wilcock, who often rides his e-bike in communities throughout the Lower Mainland, wasn't aware of that until this motion came about.
But he said requiring bells on bikes won't solve the problem of pedestrians and cyclists trying to share pathways respectfully.
"Mandating a bike bell is not the same as somebody actually being socially considerate," he said.
DNV Mayor Mike Little suggested during the council meeting that bells may, in fact, be required by the province, but the Ministry of Transportation confirmed to CBC News that bicycles are not required to have bells or horns under the Motor Vehicle Act, and those rules are the responsibility of municipalities.
Coun. Jordan Back wondered how such a bylaw would be enforced.
"I think that would be really challenging," he said during the June 23 meeting. He suggested education and signage instead to encourage courtesy on multi-use paths.
"I think any time you start mandating something like this, it just is going to create a whole other thing for us to try and manage and enforce."
Wilcock, a volunteer with HUB Cycling — a non-profit organization that promotes cycling in Vancouver — said municipalities should focus on building separate pathways for people on foot and people on bikes.
"People in the cars get to travel side by side. Why shouldn't the people walking have plenty of room to walk side by side? Same with people on bikes," he said.
"The conflict is happening because people are on a multi-use path, because it's squished too close together, people travelling different speeds. That's the root of the problem."
Hanson hopes the DNV does eventually make bike bells a requirement on city pathways and streets, and that other communities on the North Shore follow suit.
Ultimately, he said, he plans to take the issue of bike bells to the Union of B.C. Municipalities, calling for bills on bikes as a provincial rule.
"I think we need to normalize bell usage. I mean, we've normalized helmet use for cycling. We need to develop a way of life that involves courtesy on our multimodal paths and safety, and I think bells on bikes is an idea whose time has come on a provincewide basis."