Public Travel: The Laws Relating to Bicyclists, Horsemen, Pedestrians
Cite this book
Citation
Arthur L. Willson. Public Travel: The Laws Relating to Bicyclists, Horsemen, Pedestrians. 1897. cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/books/public-travel-the-laws-relating-to-bicyclists-a-willson-1897/
Page numbers are pages of the PDF, which can differ from the numbers printed on the page.
Contents
- Sets out the councils' duty to keep roads in repair and their liability for default, that a by-law beyond statutory authority is void, and that the public's right of way over the whole road cannot be restricted without express enactment. Notes that the 1897 legislation first let councils regulate bicycles, and only in municipalities of 100,000 or more.
- Gives the rules of the road as amended in 1897: a driver meeting a horse-drawn vehicle keeps to the right, and one meeting a bicyclist gives room to pass on the right. A bicyclist overtaking gives audible warning, a bicyclist overtaken turns out to the right, and bicyclists on a city street-railway central strip pass to the right. Racing, furious and drunken driving are forbidden, bridges over thirty feet must post a walking-pace notice, and penalties run from $1 to $20.
- Quotes Municipal Act s.550, letting councils set apart parts of a road as carriage ways, boulevards, sidewalks or bicycle paths, and s.557, letting a township set apart a foot path and penalise horse riders and vehicles on it.
- The 1897 amendment letting a council set apart a highway as a bicycle path, and penalising anyone who rides or drives a horse over it under the Act to regulate travelling.
- Section 496 lets a council forbid the leading, riding or driving of horses or cattle on sidewalks, and a 1897 by-law power bars carriages, wagons, bicycles and other vehicles from sidewalks, footpaths and parks set apart for pedestrians.
- Section 629 lets a city, town, township or village define areas where snow, ice and dirt must be cleared from sidewalks, streets, lanes and alleys, with fines for breach of the by-law under s.479.
- Section 489 lets townships, cities, towns and villages regulate, but not licence, persons using bicycles and other vehicles not drawn by horses, a power given only to municipalities of 100,000 or more.
- Section 524 makes the Crown surveyors' road allowances, roads laid out by statute, and roads on which public money or statute labour was spent public highways. Section 526 gives every municipal council jurisdiction over the original road allowances, roads and bridges within the municipality.
- Section 527 vests every public road, street, bridge and highway in a city, township, town or incorporated village in the municipality, subject to rights in the soil reserved by those who laid it out, and except a road an individual took possession of in lieu of one he laid out without compensation.
- Section 531 makes a corporation that fails to keep a public road or bridge in repair civilly liable for damages, if sued within three months. Municipalities are not liable for falls on snow or ice on sidewalks unless grossly negligent, and written notice must be served within seven days against a city, town or village, with a longer period against a township.
- Section 436 requires city police commissioners to regulate and license livery stable owners and owners of horses, cabs, carriages and other vehicles hired out, whether resident or not. Section 479 lets councils regulate or prevent the fouling of public wharves, drains, sewers, shores and water by animals or vehicles.
- In cities of over 100,000 inhabitants a council may set apart streets on which horses may be driven or ridden faster than elsewhere, but the by-law is repealed if a majority of the property owners on such a street petition against it.
- A cross-reference to the Municipal Act sections (420 to 423a, 479 and 482) under which fines and penalties for breach of these provisions and by-laws are recovered.