Q&A - LSM in Bike Lanes

I've often wondered about the consequences of riding an LSM. You have to fear other motor vehicles or they will run you down. You don't belong in bicycle lanes and are forbidden to drive on the shoulder, so legally you must be out in the traffic with the rest of the cars and trucks. It doesn't seem safe to me other than on neighbourhood streets.

Bicycle lanes are designated use lanes and your LSM is not a bicycle:

"cycle" means a device having any number of wheels that is propelled by human power and on which a person may ride and includes a motor assisted cycle, but does not include a skate board, roller skates or in-line roller skates;

"motor assisted cycle" means a device

(a) to which pedals or hand cranks are attached that will allow for the cycle to be propelled by human power,

(b) on which a person may ride,

(c) to which is attached a motor of a prescribed type that has an output not exceeding the prescribed output, and

(d) that meets the other criteria prescribed under section 182.1 (3);

With regard to collision liability, that is just too difficult a question for me to answer. It would all depend on the circumstances of the collision and most of the case law that I see seems to seldom place all the liability on one or the other of the collision participants.