Come this fall, the Government of Nova Scotia will be rolling out tougher rules for the roads, aimed at protecting cyclists and other vulnerable road users. The province’s new Transportation Safety Act will include several changes, including a new minimum age 14 to ride an e-bike, which matches the age requirement for e-scooters which was brought into law in 2022. Nova Scotia’s Public Works Minister Fred Tilley says it comes down to the technology of the e-bikes and the speed at which they can hit. “It’s the speed that they can actually travel, they can go up to 30 or 32 kilometres per hour or more and so you start to get into a different level of conveyance than a traditional bicycle,” said Tilley. Hudson Shotwell uses an e-bike to get around the Halifax peninsula and says the age restrictions make sense, as he regularly sees young children doing dangerous things on busy roads. “I watch them go up and down the street here 30 km/h and it’s dangerous,” said Shotwell. “And some of them aren’t wearing helmets and they’re going way too fast.” Tilley said the new legislation will also make “dooring” an offence and will come with a big fine, but he couldn’t give reporters an exact amount. He says a fine will come for anyone who opens a vehicle door into the path of an oncoming cyclist or any other road user. It’s the kind of offence that cyclists here in Halifax have been calling for for years. “This is something that we should have absolutely been dealing with a long time ago,” said Sara Kirk, a health promotion professor at Dalhousie University and avid cyclist. “Since then, we’ve had deaths from people being doored and currently it’s not an offence and there is no penalty for literally killing somebody with your car.” Kirk lost a colleague to a dooring incident last month. Dr. Nouman Ali was killed on July 17 when the driver of a pickup truck opened their door in the 71-year-olds path as he was cycling along Strawberry Hill Road in Halifax’s north end. Kirk argues that any death caused by large vehicles like trucks and SUVs should be followed up with fatality inquiry, conducted by the province’s medical examiner. “These much larger vehicles are seemingly ubiquitous on our streets right now and they pose a greater risk for anyone on the street that are outside of them,” said Kirk. The new Transportation Safety Act will be released in the fall and will clarify that children under the age if 14 can ride non-electric bike and scooters on the sidewalks. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
