Cycling Safety

​Keep these cycling and cyclist safety tips in mind when travelling on your bike. Don't forget to view our cycling safety videos below. 

Helmet Safety

No matter what your age, helmets save lives. By law in Ontario, anyone under the age of 18 is required to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle.

Before you ride, make sure your helmet:

1. Fits snuggly so it doesn't slide around, but not too tight that it is uncomfortable
2. Has the straps done up
3. Has no visible cracks and has never been dropped or in a previous accident. If any of these are true, purchase a new one immediately
4. Lastly, make sure your helmet is CSA approved
   

Helmet Safety Video 

Cycling Hand Signals and Bike Lanes

Before you ride your bicycle, please review the cycling hand signals and learn what forms of transportation are allowed on Bike lanes in Newmarket. 

Bike Lanes

A bike lane is a portion of a roadway designated by signs and/or pavement markings for the use of bicycles, children's bicycles, power-assisted bicycles, motor-assisted bicycles, and mopeds. View the video above to learn how to use bike lanes and how to comprehend the signs you may encounter when travelling on a bike lane in Newmarket. 

Motor-Assisted Bicycle

A motor assisted bicycle is a bicycle that:

• Is fitted with pedals that are operable at all times to propel the bicycle
  
• Weighs no more than 55 kg (121 lbs)
  
• Has no hand or foot operated clutch or gearbox driven by the motor and transferring power to the driven wheel
  
• Has an attached motor driven by electricity or having a piston displacement of not more than 50 cubic centimetres
  
• Does not have sufficient power to enable the bicycle to attain a speed greater than 50 km/h on level ground within a distance of 2 kilometers from a standing start
  
• Does not include a motorcycle or pocket bike
  

Power-assisted bicycle

A 'power-assisted bicycle' means a vehicle that: • has steering handlebars and is equipped with pedals

• Is designed to travel on not more than three (3) wheels in contact with the ground
  
• Has one or more electric motors that have, single or in combination, the following characteristics:
• Is capable of being propelled by muscular power
  
• It has a total continuous power output rating, measured at the shaft of each motor, of 500 W or less,
  
•  if it is engaged by the use of muscular power, power assistance immediately ceases when the muscular power ceases,
•  if it is engaged by the use of an accelerator controller, power assistance immediately ceases when the brakes are applied, and
• Is incapable of providing further assistance when the bicycle attains a speed of 32 km/h on level ground
  
• Bears a label that is permanently affixed by the manufacturer and appears in a conspicuous location stating, in both official languages, that the vehicle is a power-assisted bicycle as defined in this subsection
  
• Has one of the following safety features:
•  an enabling mechanism to turn the electric motor on and off that is separate from the accelerator controller and fitted in such a manner that it is operable by the driver, or o a mechanism that prevents the motor from being engaged before the bicycle attains a speed of 3 km/h