Moncton police crackdown on cyclists

Codiac RCMP are warning cyclists to respect the rules of the road or they could be digging into their wallets to pay for new fines.

Officers are conducting a bicycle safety blitz this week because of a rise in complaints received by the RCMP recently.

Const. Damien Theriault said everybody has to follow the same rules whether they are behind the wheel of a car or pedaling a bicycle.

And the RCMP officer said everybody gets the same fine for breaking those rules.

'What we have been advised and what we have observed ourselves is that there are still cyclists out there who unfortunately do not respect the rules of the road.' — Const. Damien Theriault

"For instance, we see cyclists very often on sidewalks, we would not tolerate a car on the side walk. We cannot tolerate cyclists on the sidewalk," he said.

Theriault said cyclists should expect tickets rather than warnings during this week’s blitz.

The fines are not cheap either. If a cyclist is caught failing to come to a complete stop at an intersection, they could be paying a $200 fine.

Theriault said the police will be paying close attention to people cycling on sidewalks and those who are riding on the wrong side of the road.

"What we have been advised and what we have observed ourselves is that there are still cyclists out there who unfortunately do not respect the rules of the road," he said.

Over the summer, many Moncton-area bike shops were reporting an increase in sales as people scrambled to find alternate transportation.

Moncton locked out Codiac Transpo workers in June.

Gary MacLellan is an avid cyclist but he also says he follows the rules of the road.

While he doesn’t have a problem with the RCMP enforcing the law, he said the police should also pay attention to drivers who are making life difficult for cyclists.

"I agree that they should control the bikers on the street, on the same turn the drivers should also be cracked down on as well for giving them no room at all to manoeuvre," he said.