Concerned for cyclist safety, some want to ban right turns at red lights in Yellowknife

Some Yellowknife residents want the city to ban right turns on red lights at certain intersections over concerns about street safety forpedestrians and cyclists.

Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Altysaid city council will discuss issues around street safety, including whether banning right turns on red would be effective, at ameeting scheduled for July 22.

"Folks have expressed interest in coming and speaking to council about it," Alty told CBC.

Major cities like New York and Montreal have made turning right on a red light illegal.

"The one thing council has talked about is creating a master transportation plan. And so what that would belooking at [is] cycling infrastructure, pedestrian infrastructure, cars, buses, so really looking at ... how we can improve the design standards of the streets," Alty said.

Right turns on red lightsare currently allowed around all of Yellowknife's intersectionsbut one, at the Baker Community Centre on Franklin Avenue.

Yellowknife city councillor Ben Hendriksen agrees with the push. He said he'd liketo see some changes in certain high-traffic intersections to avoid collisions.

Hendriksen said hewas riding home from work on his bike in June and was nearly hit by a driver who came within a foot of him.

"Yellowknife has the widest streets that I've ever seen, especially for a population of our size, and so we can really utilize this space in a completely different way in order to allow space for every type of transportation around the city," he said.

Adam Denley, co-founder of the Shift bike borrowingprogram, said he wants cyclist safety to be "taken seriously."

"Right now, it seems to be that when a neighbourhood or road is designed, it's designed for cars and if there is room left over, then there are accommodations put in for other types of road users,"Denley said.

"That's not sufficient."

He also said there are parts of the city that could be made safer, to increase visibility for cars, bikes and pedestrians. He said city council should take the necessary steps to do something about it.

Alty said the city will look at whether implementing no turns on red lights would be effective, but for now, driversneed to slow down.