High school student highlights Saskatoon bike safety issues with protest

A Saskatoon high school student is taking bike safety into her own hands.

Seventeen-year-old Lucy Stobbe is hosting a cycling protest this weekend to raise awareness on what she called the dangers of biking in the city and how things need to change.

“My goal is to just show bikers that they deserve a spot on the road, and to show drivers that cyclists deserve to be on the road with them,” Stobbe said.

The protest is something Stobbe said she’s wanted to do for a while. While biking to school – which she does all year – she said she has often felt unsafe, and wants to change that.

She said some of the issues include potholes, people almost opening car doors on her and drivers on their phones.

After the death of 33-year-old cyclist Natasha Fox, who was killed in a collision with a cement truck while cycling in Saskatoon in late May, Stobbe said she knew the protest needed to happen.

“She was a kindergarten teacher at my elementary school, so that just hit home,” said Stobbe. “That could have been me, or that could have been one of my friends.”

No charges have been laid in connection with Fox’s death, but it has already spurred calls for safety improvements from cyclists around Saskatoon.

Stobbe is currently attending the outdoor school program at Walter Murray Collegiate, which she said promotes biking and a greener future.

She said she is confused why young cyclists are taught about biking safety, while drivers aren’t.

“I’m trying to bike to school in a way that’s promoting a greener future, and you’re trying to hit me?” Stobbe said.

Stobbe said her protest will be a step forward in creating a discussion around bike safety in Saskatoon.

She said she hopes people aren’t too afraid to bike in Saskatoon, and that the local government will do something to improve the situation.

“To put bike lanes everywhere, I think, would be unrealistic,” said Stobbe.

She said adding more bike lanes to the city is her long-term goal, but in the short term she said she just wants cyclists to know they deserve a spot on the road and wants to see drivers using more patience.

Stobbe said her experience in advocating for change has inspired her plans after graduation. She said she hopes to enrol in political or environmental science in university.

The protest is to begin Sunday at 2 p.m. at Saskatoon City Hall. The cyclists will head towards the University Bridge and return down College Drive with the event ending at the downtown police station on 25th Street East.