The somewhat friendly, but often passionate rivalry between Montreal and Toronto, over things such as which city handles winter snowstorms better or who has the best restaurants, best festivals and especially best sports teams, has always been a type of love/hate relationship for the most part. And recently, the ‘love’ part predominated with Montrealers coming together in harmony with their counterparts when the Raptors won the NBA championship. It was bliss all the way down Highway 401 and back – but the romance is now being tested, with Montreal being the losers it seems. Montreal cyclists have received 42 times more tickets for cycling infractions than Toronto has. In fact, Montreal holds the lead in all of Canada. Montreal #1 for worst cyclists
Montreal Beats Toronto for worst cyclists
According to a report in the Toronto Sun newspaper, police in Toronto issued 292 tickets in 2018 for cycling violations – but Montreal held the lead with a whopping 12,285 tickets. The top infractions Montreal cyclists were ticketed for (of the 12,285 issued) were for going through a red light (2,887), riding with headphones on (2,199), failing to make a full stop at a stop sign (1,388) and not respecting other road signs (1,230).
The president and director of Velo Quebec, Suzanne Lareau, stated that she supports the ticketing of cyclists ‘whose reckless conduct endangers others’. But she feels police have been handing out tickets for too many minor things, such as missing a reflector (Quebec’s Highway Code requires six) or not coming to a full stop at a stop sign – even when there are no cars coming. She also said’another reason Montreal cyclists are getting more tickets is simply that there are far more of them’. That might be a good point, perhaps giving ‘wheels’ to ‘unfair time in the penalty box’! And maybe it would make Montrealers feel better knowing that Calgary beat out Toronto by handing out 399 tickets and Vancouver came in at 380. (Ottawa issued a mere 180, followed by Winnipeg at 114 and Edmonton at only 113). Although cycling safely and abiding by the rules should be taken very seriously for obvious reasons – the bottom line, depending on how you look at it… Montreal is still #1!
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