Cycling accident fatality named
On Facebook, Christine Gosselin says this was the victim in that fatal cycling incident Monday at Park and Mont-Royal. I don’t see his identity confirmed anywhere else.
Some discussion of the intersection’s hazards on La Presse, which notes that when its journalists went there Tuesday morning they happened to witness another accident, this one between two vehicles, one of which ended up on a sidewalk. But, as DeWolf notes below, Denis Coderre is lying outright to say the situation is worse now and more cyclists are dying.
Meezly 09:22 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
Confirmed by TVA: https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2021/09/28/un-jeune-scientifique-tue-par-un-poids-lourd-1
He wasn’t wearing a helmet 🙁
Yes, that intersection. And further south at the lights where the Etienne monument is, I remember a pedestrian being fatally hit by a speeding vehicle a few years ago. Cars are weapons.
Kate 09:39 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
Yes, that victim was a woman who went running every day, and someone burned through the red and killed her. I remember that incident too.
Thanks for the link, Meezly.
Clee 09:58 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
Most cyclists don’t follow any rules and drivers are more distracted then ever 🙁
walkerp 10:01 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
Really sad.
Fuck Coderre. That safety bullshit is a classic car addict trope. Their solution (and what they really want) is to get cyclists off the roads so they can drive with impunity.
j2 12:50 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
“Most cyclists don’t follow the rules” so, oh well, fuck this kid. /s
DeWolf 12:56 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
A helmet is not going to help you when you are being run over by a dump truck. Stop the victim-blaming.
DeWolf 13:12 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
Also, show me one cyclist who doesn’t “follow the rules” and I’ll show you 10,000 drivers who don’t. Almost everybody behind the wheel drives over the speed limit and rolls through stop signs on a daily basis. Drivers constantly block the bike paths that are meant to keep cyclists safe. And every week, I see so many people running red lights, it’s astonishing.
dhomas 13:37 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
When I drive the speed limit of 30 on my street, other drivers routinely pass me by going through the adjacent bike lane. They even get pissed off about it. Motorists should be more careful as they are the ones driving multi-ton machines capable of killing people.
Robert H 13:53 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
Thank you, DeWolf and dhomas.
“L’avenue du Parc n’est « ni plus ni moins qu’une autoroute » qui traverse un quartier densément peuplé, dit-elle. « Elle coupe notre grand parc du Mont-Royal en deux, et les abords du parc ne sont pas conviviaux pour les nombreux déplacements à pied ou à vélo.”
This is the key and it’s all too common in North American cities: city streets that function as highways. This is what Saint Denis used to be through the Plateau and what plenty of other streets in Montreal and elsewhere still are. Vehicles are prioritized and anyone on foot or two nonmotorized wheels is an afterthought, even in this relatively progressive city.
From the description in the article, this seems like what’s known among cyclists as a right cross. I was lucky enough to survive a similar encounter about 15 years ago in Boston. Granted, it was the bad old days when one was lucky to find a “bike lane” border painted on the street, but I was riding along the edge, being careful to avoid being doored by illegally parked cars and mowed down by traffic approaching from behind, trying to stay within my margin of safety. But a car passed me from behind and I made the mistake of assuming they had seen me as it was broad daylight. So when they decided to turn right ahead of me into a convenience store parking lot (no turn signal), I wasn’t prepared to react and found myself on the pavement, dazed, gasping for breath, and bloodied. Through my blurred vision, I could see people in a circle standing above me. As I said, I was very, very lucky: a mild concussion, no broken bones, just a few scrapes and an ache that went away after a few days. My bicycle, however resembled the one crushed against the truck in the La Press article photo, and I had to replace it. I’m glad I wore my helmet as it cushioned the impact when I hit the pavement. Now I am teased about cycling like an old man; moving cautiously, observing traffic signals, keeping an eye on tinted windows of cars as I pass (I’ve been doored too), checking the wheels of vehicles as they pass me on the right, and generally picking my way along as if I wanted to make it to my next birthday, because I do. It’s a wonder I still enjoy cycling, but there is still so much more that needs to be done to make it an activity that others would enjoy too.
Kate 14:37 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
I stopped cycling a couple of years ago. I hadn’t planned or intended to stop, I just rode home after one too many close calls in traffic, and never felt like taking the bike out again. It’s still in my storage locker.
Meezly 14:42 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
FFS, how is stating that he wasn’t wearing a helmet vlctim-blaming? Did it sound like I thought the victim was asking to get ran over while biking without a helmet?
A helmet, and being extra cautious, is the only defense we have against motorists (and within the same comment I stated that cars are weapons).
I’m a cyclist myself and also tired of the blamey BS that gets dogpiled on cyclists, but take a look on the streets. Most cyclists are not wearing helmets. It’s obvious a helmet is not going to save you when you’re getting run over by a dump truck, but those types of collisions are more rare. For more common vehicular-related bike collisions can be mitigated by wearing a goddam helmet.
As Robert H described, he was cut off by a car in a similar way as the Italian scientist and could have sustained a head injury if he wasn’t wearing a goddam helmet, so yes, a bloody helmet can save your life.
Tim 14:57 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
One question I have, based on the description in La Presse that the driver hit the cyclist when turning right from Parc onto Mont Royal, is whether the driver turned on his indicator to indicate to the cyclist that he was turning. Hopefully there are witnesses that can answer this question.
EmilyG 15:28 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
Cyclists “not following the rules” are nowhere near as dangerous as drivers not following rules.
DeWolf 16:25 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
The thing about helmets is they protect individual cyclists, but they do nothing at all to make cycling safer. They don’t stop accidents, they just mitigate the damage. Focusing on helmets is a distraction from the unsafe street design, irresponsible driving culture and incompetent enforcement of traffic rules that allow horrible events like this to happen.
Meezly 18:05 on 2021-09-29 Permalink
No shit. We know this. But the harder changes not going to happen overnight. Not in my lifetime. That’s a fact. While I’m alive, I’m going to wear my helmet.