The Necessity of Bike Lanes in Victoria

Riding a bike in Victoria as your main form of transportation may not be the safest or most comfortable mode of transportation, what with the vehicles barreling down the road beside you on Victoria’s narrow lanes.

At the moment, the city of Victoria is working to mitigate the dangers that come with sharing the road. The city of Victoria has been implementing two-way protected cycling lanes in the downtown Victoria area. The plan is for the fully protected bike lanes to be implemented in downtown Victoria first, where it is deemed the most dangerous to try biking, and from there, the city hopes to expand out into neighbourhoods.

The issue of whether or not expanding the bike lanes are a good idea has been a largely divisive topic and one that doesn’t seem to be letting up, even as the city continues to move forward with the plan.

While there are some drawbacks to the cities plans for expansion – a reduction of on-street parking, for one, as well as the construction that would accompany the change, the benefits of making room for separated bike lanes outweighs the negative.

The fact of the matter is, cycling is a largely popular form of transportation in Victoria, and as such the roads need to change in order to optimize safety for everybody – those in vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians. The largest selling point in favour of protected bike lanes is just that – the protection offered to the cyclists through them. Protected bike lanes open up the possibility of a larger demographic using them; people who previously worried about the unsafe nature of biking downtown can feel a little safer, thus allowing everyone the chance to bike in a safer environment.