Just two weeks after new Sunday bike route rules kicked in, an accident put residents on high alert.
A little girl was hit by a vehicle on Wellington Crescent on Sunday.
“We had just come into the road and I was telling her to brake and she was braking as hard as she could, but she went over onto the road and a car hit her front wheel,” said the girl’s mother, Dawn Fitelovitch.
Fitelovitch said her daughter is fine, but worries that signs explaining the new rules aren’t clear enough.
“Barricades are down, cars are confused, people are confused,” she said.
Previously, the City of Winnipeg constructed barriers that blocked traffic on Sunday and holiday bike routes.
This year, those barricades were replaced by permanent signs that instruct drivers not to go more than one block on the bike route.
Those signs were posted on Wellington Crescent, Wolseley Avenue, Lyndale Drive, and Scotia Street.
But two weeks later, cyclists and pedestrian said very few drivers follow the rules.
“People don’t read the signs. The signs are not in neon. They’re not going to notice them, and they’re not going to read them in time,” said Janet Bailey, who lives near Wellington Crescent.
Some residents also started to take things into their own hands, stopping drivers and telling them to get off the road.
Many said they’ve noticed more cars on the roads without the barricades.
“I feel like there’s definitely more now. We’ve only been out the past couple weeks but there’s been cars every single time,” said cyclist Gemma Keatch.
Residents said they want the barricades back, or more police enforcing the new rules.
Cars caught driving more than one block on a Sunday bike route could face a fine of $92.
