Cycle crash leaves one critical
A crash between cyclists Monday afternoon at Berri and Ontario injured both riders but left the older one in critical condition with head injuries.
Anyone who’s taken that downhill bike path has experienced the powerful momentum that builds by the time you reach the intersection.
dhomas 20:49 on 2021-06-07 Permalink
I used to take that bike path every day. It was somewhat stressful crossing that intersection because you would have tremendous momentum from the hill and you knew that all it would take is one car/cyclist/pedestrian to illegally cross the intersection and you’re toast. I would always hope to get the light green at the bottom of the hill so I could keep my speed while at the same time hoping to get it red so I could cross stress-free.
DeWolf 10:18 on 2021-06-08 Permalink
Imagine if the underpass road was replaced by a park with a winding paths for cyclists and pedestrians. That would have the effect of levelling off the uphill journey, making it less challenging, while also slowing down cyclists as they travel downhill. It would add a couple of minutes to everyone’s journey time and the Lance Armstrong types would hate it, but it would make this kind of accident impossible while also replacing a bunch of asphalt with trees and greenery.
(Where would the cars go, you ask? How about on the very wide but underused slip roads on either side of the viaduct.)
Blork 12:06 on 2021-06-08 Permalink
Dewolf, that idea sounds nice in theory, but I see two flaws right away.
First, from a motor vehicle POV, directing through traffic to the slip roads would end up requiring much longer red lights on Sherbrooke, resulting in traffic being backed up on Sherbrooke for blocks and blocks, and given how important that street is as an artery, that simply isn’t going to happen.
From a cycling POV, I would like nothing more than to roll down a nice winding path through lush greenery, but unfortunately we live among an abundance of idiots, so that would be ruined by people whizzing down the path too fast and either wiping out on the bends or at least weaving into the oncoming cycling lanes, and if they don’t crash on the way down they’ll still be going at excessive speeds when they reach the bottom. I sincerely believe that would cause more bicycle accidents than the current arrangement does.
JS 14:16 on 2021-06-08 Permalink
They should put the kind of barriers you see elsewhere at the base of bike path inclines, like on the Montreal side of the Cartier bridge, that force zooming cyclists to slow down upon reentering society.
Blork 19:45 on 2021-06-08 Permalink
That would work, but boy would people hate it. It would also require adding a physical barrier between the bike path and the street, to prevent people from just jumping over to the street to deke around the chicanes. (But said barrier would be a good thing regardless, no?)
jaddle 13:49 on 2021-06-13 Permalink
Those barriers can make it impossible for anyone to pull a trailer through, or a trail-a-bike sort of thing. Mayny people cycle with children or with cargo! Even just getting a normal bike through them can be a pain in the neck, especially with heavy panniers.