A local Facebook driving group is wondering what happened to a driver in Richmond who straddled a bike lane for a very long time.
According to the person who took the video of the incident, the driver was travelling down Granville after turning right on No. 1 Road, heading toward Richmond Centre.
In the video, you see the driver in question in a compact black vehicle driving in the bike lane despite having plenty of room in their own lane.
Got permission to share this #Richmond driving video showing someone travelling in the bike lane in their car.
A local Facebook group is having a field day with it.
— Amir’s Doing It All (@amiraliwrites.bsky.social) January 24, 2025 at 2:25 PM
The person who captured the footage said the driver continued to drive erratically afterwards, “swerving in between lanes and straddling more bike lanes before making a left turn onto Minoru.”
They were also concerned that the driver would hit someone or a car, adding, “Be vigilant everyone.”
While parking or stopping in a bike lane in the City of Vancouver is a ticketable offence, the BC Ministry of Transportation doesn’t outline any official rules regarding driving in a bike lane, as the driver in the video did.
“Bike lanes are reserved for cyclists. Do not drive in bike lanes and always yield to cyclists when crossing bike lanes to access driveways or parking spots,” the ministry says. In this case, the driver technically drives over a solid line, nearly a $100 fine. You can, however, merge into a bike lane over a broken line to make a turn.
That would be an entirely different story if a cyclist were anywhere near the driver. Last year, BC passed new rules about safe passing distances between drivers and cyclists.
Drivers passing vulnerable road users must keep a minimum distance of one metre on highways with speeds of 50 km or less or one and a half metre on highways with speeds of 51 km or more.
This also applies to drivers passing vulnerable road users riding in separated and protected bike lanes and on sidewalks, requiring a minimum of half a metre distance.
In response to the video, some actually tried to give the driver the benefit of the doubt, suggesting that they were trying to avoid the potholes on the road. Others said that the police non-emergency line should’ve been called.
“Boggles my mind,” another Facebook user said.
“How do people like that survive in this world? Honestly. Driving is not hard,” said someone else.
Bike lanes can sometimes be a controversial topic in Metro Vancouver, as some comments in another story we published about them demonstrate.