Montreal police want drunk cycling law added to Quebec's Highway Safety Code

Montreal police are hoping revisions to Quebec's Highway Safety Code will include alawthat will allow them to regulate drunk cycling.

Insp. Andr Durocher with the Montreal police's road security and traffic division said there were no specific bylaws regarding drunk cycling.

• Montreal may take over painting of bike path lines
• Quebec Highway Safety Code bike-friendly changes delayed, cycling groups complain
• Montreal proposes changes to improve bike safety

Durochersaidthe increasing number of cyclists was "very good news in Montreal," but all the more reason why police needed provisions in the Highway Safety Code allowing them to intervene.

"We had a case in 2013 where the person who got killed had a beer in his hand [while] riding a bicycle,"DurochertoldCBC'sHomerun. "To us it's a major concern."

For Vlo Quebec, a law preventing drunk cycling may be useful but shouldn't be a priority.

"We haven't heard of many casualties or injuries resulting from drunk riding, whereas we know that we've had several deaths caused, for instance, by dooring," said Vlo Qubec's Magali Bebronne.

Changes overdue

Cycling groups have also made requests for revisions toQuebec's Highway Safety Code, which they say are two yearsoverdue.

Durocher said laws allowing police to intervene in drunk cycling cases and laws dealing with other cycling safety concernswere not mutually exclusive.

"Anything aimed at protecting people is not a bad measure," he said, countering that onlyone cyclistdied due to dooring last year up to four times fewer than alcohol-related cycling fatalities.

Durocher said a law would also allow for more accurate statistics to be collected on drunk cycling.

"We tell people to wear a bike helmet and to respect all sorts of things and on one hand we're telling them 'well ride your bike while you're drunk' and that's fine?That's a bit contradictory," Durocher said.

He added that police were not asking for drunk cycling to be made criminal. The details of the law were for legislators to decide, he said.