What to know
- A TikTok rant about e-bikes “flying down the sidewalk” has struck a nerve in Toronto, with pedestrians sharing stories of near-misses and collisions — even though riding e-bikes on sidewalks is banned under City of Toronto rules.
- Toronto bike lawyer David Shellnutt says while reckless riding is scary and unacceptable, the bigger safety threat in the city continues to be cars, pointing to the far higher number of crashes involving motorists.
- He argues the real tension comes from infrastructure that hasn’t kept up — from pothole-ridden roads to blocked or snowy bike lanes — leaving riders, drivers and pedestrians competing for the same tight spaces.
Some Torontonians are calling out e-bikers for being a “real danger” in the city’s sidewalks, but one expert says the focus should be on cars.
With cold weather creating potholes in Toronto’s streets, amid already busy intersections, road safety has become a highly-discussed topic in the community, including e-bikes using sidewalks.
A Toronto-based TikToker took his thoughts on this hot topic online, calling out e-bike riders for being a danger to pedestrians.
“The real danger of being here is getting run over by one of those e-bike delivery drivers flying down the sidewalk,” he said in a video.
@shaurya.manocha genuinely why are you on the crosswalk I’m going to crash out #toronto #funny #torontolife ♬ original sound – Shaurya Manocha
The users’ takes created discussions online, with many agreeing in the comments.
“I got hit by one, and they cussed me out 😭,” one user said.
Another one echoed the sentiment, “I had one go panic and go ‘get out of the way!!’ while barreling down the sidewalk towards me like… good news mate you’re not a car you can stop whenever 👍.”
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Yet not all commenters blame e-bikes.
“Sure, be mad at ebikes because there are no bike lanes or they’re full of snow, but meanwhile, cars are actually killing people,” a different user said.
What are the rules for e-bikers
The City of Toronto specifically lists rules and regulations for e-bikers on its website, including that they are prohibited from riding on the sidewalk.
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According to the city, e-bikes can achieve speeds of 32 kilometres per hour, leading to pedestrian danger.
To make the road safer, the website also mentions e-bikes should also never stop in the bike lane, as it could force cyclists into traffic, and never ride the wrong way, which puts themselves and others at risk of head-on collisions.
Bike lawyer responds
Founder of The Biking Lawyer LLP, David Shellnutt, agreed that people riding e-bikes dangerously is scary, and they shouldn’t do that, but explained that road accidents are more commonly caused by cars.
“It is not the problem that politicians make it out to be. It’s not like e-bikers causing injuries to moms and strollers on sidewalks at epidemic proportions across the city, right? That’s not happening. What we do have is hundreds, if not thousands, of people being hit by motorists who are running across crosswalks, not stopping at stop signs, not looking when they turn right,” he said.
Responding to the video, Shellnutt said the TikToker probably lived a very scary situation, but should consider overall road safety when discussing pedestrian danger.
“If we’re going to look at traffic road safety, we’ve got to look and dedicate our efforts to the elephant in the room, and that’s dangerous driving,” he said.
Shellnutt shares that Torontonians should also be looking into issues with the city’s design. For instance, he explains some popular pickup spots for e-bike delivery drivers that are filled with streetcar tracks make it difficult for bikers to stop in the middle of the roadway, often forcing them to go onto the sidewalk.
While the lawyer agrees that e-bikers should get off their bikes, walk them and yield to pedestrians, he emphasized that the main issue is the infrastructure.
“The infrastructure has not caught up with our needs as a community. You have these conflicts that happen, and so we need to engineer these conflicts and have safe transitions for people to get off the runway on their bikes and delivery zones,” he said.
