Friday, May 23, 2008

Cyclist Death May 22nd at 1pm

A 57-year-old Toronto cyclist died Thursday after he fell in front of a cube van.

Toronto police said the chain of events started just after 1 p.m.

The cyclist was eastbound on Eglinton Avenue West, just west of Avenue Road, when the occupant of a parked car opened the driver's side door.

The cyclist hit the door, lost control of his bike and fell on the road, where he was hit by the van.

The cyclist died four hours later in hospital.

14 comments:

Ben said...

I hope that the person who opened the door is not let off with a "tap on the wrist." There is a tendency to refer to events like this as accidents, but what really occurred was criminal negligence causing death.

Ryan Marr said...

This happend right in front of my office. I couldn't agree more with fixedorbroken. I am a cyclist and a driver. I obviously rode into work as much to make a point to my co workers than anything today. I ride from queen and landsdowne but occasionally drive a small vehicle when I need to lug some gear around. some of my co-workers were walking by and saw the man being lifted into the ambulance and when they got back to the office called me crazy for cycling on eglington.

Well I hope this is a reminder that cycling has a real stigma and a lot of people are in fear of cycling to work, and events like this are no help.

Tino said...

There will be a memorial ride for the fallen cyclist next Thursday. Details TBA.

Update: No charges are expected according to the police ...

Tino said...

For the record:
1996 King/Jarvis - Car
1996 Bathurst/Queen - Truck
1996 Commissioners/Lake Ontario -Transport Truck
1996 Mount Pleasant/Roxborough - Car
1996 Wilson/Keele - Car
1996 Queensway/Roncesvalles - Van
1997 Dufferin/Bloor - Dump Truck
1997 Eglinton/Allen - Car
1997 University/Dundas - Bus/Doored by Car
1998 Oak Park/Lumsden - Minivan
1998 Martingrove/Westway - Car
1998 Midland/Havendale - Car
1998 Spadina/Clarence Square - Tanker Truck
1998 Lakeshore/Royal York - ??
1998 Pape/Harcourt - Van
1999 Kipling/New Toronto - ??
1999 Lawrence/Morningdew - Pickup Truck
2000 Bloor/Islington - Chevy Blazer
2000 Old Kingston Rd/Orchard Park - ??
2001 McCowan/Commander - None
2001 Jarvis/Isabella - ??
2002 Finch/404 - Car
2002 Martingrove/Finch - Car
2003 Islington/Albion - Car
2004 Dundas/Dupont - Pickup Truck
2004 Robert Jenkins
2005 Horner and Kipling - Truck
2005 Gladstone and Queen - Truck
2005 Eastern and Leslie - Truck
2006 Keele and Wilson - Truck
2006 Queensquay and Windermere - Car
2006 Avenue Rd and Cortleigh - Truck
2006 Eglinton and Leslie - Cement Mixer
2007 York Mills and Bayview - Dump Truck
2007 Pharmacy and Lawrence - Truck
2007 Baymills and Birchmount/Warden - Car/Crosswalk
2008 Eglinton/Braemar - Doored by car/Van

Unknown said...

I heard John Moore talk about this at 4pm yesterday on CFRB 1010.

Couldn't believe the majority of the callers and their negative attitude to wards cyclists.
Thankfully Moore is a cyclist himself and didn't put up with much.

Best wishes to his family.

Tino said...

The memorial ride will leave from Bloor and Spadina at 9AM Thursday
May 29th.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe the negative views towards cyclists either, I frequent Craigs List "Rants and Raves", and it's unbelievable the amount of people down on cyclists.... there really is a war going on between cyclists and drivers... it's unbelievable.....
Personally, I just want to ride my bike, and what ever everyone else wants to do it fine with me, I don't want to see bad accidents happen to ANYONE no matter WHO.... :(

Tino said...

I can appreciate that ... seems like
riding a bike is very threatening to poeple for some reason. Makes no sense at all.

Anonymous said...

What's the route for the memorial ride?

Tino said...

Hey, the route has not been determined as of yet, but likely
Spadina, St. George, Poplar Plains,
Forest Hill, Braemar ... We expect to
be there by 9:30.

Anonymous said...

It's an interesting mentality that surrounding the view that 'cyclist is crazy' for riding a bike in downtown Toronto. This mentality operates on the belief that cyclists don't have a right to be on the streets - it seems to be more acceptable to call us cyclists crazy than to deem the unsafe street conditions crazy. The streets are dangerous because we don't have bike lanes and some driver's aren't respectful or aware of us.
What's crazy is that we don't have a safe place to ride.

gwadzilla said...

my heart goes out to those that knew and loved this man...

it boggles the mind that the car drivers do not see cyclists as people

as if they have more right to the road because they are in cars

road are for multiple forms of transportation
not just cars

the needs to be an awakening

Mr Frugal said...

Accidents in the truest sense, are a result of unforeseeable events. Lightening strikes,killer meteors, tornadoes, etc are accidents. This was negligence, full stop. The car driver was negligent, the van driver was negligent, and unfortunately, the victim was also negligent. The car driver should have checked prior to opening the door, the van driver shouldn't have been passing so close, and the cyclist shouldn't have been in the 'door prize zone'.
This kind of incident just reinforces the misplaced fear amongst would-be cyclists that it is it is just too dangerous to cycle in traffic. THIS IS IS NOT TRUE. If you learn to negotiate traffic and act in a predictable fashion, the odds of being seriously injured or killed are greatly reduced. In fact, cycling is much safer than driving in an automobile.
Do yourself (and your co-workers, spouses, children etc) a favour; SIGN UP FOR A CAN-BIKE training course and learn how to ride in traffic! You will be suprised what misconceptions you have. Until recently, I cycle commuted in Toronto year round. I took this City sponsored course and was amazed at what I didn't know.

By the way, if you are doored, report the incident to the police. Better yet, lay on the ground and ask someone call 911 for an ambulance.This way a police report will be made, and the driver will receive two demerit points. Don't discount the adrenaline factor- my wife got doored on on Parliament Street and rode away after being threatened by the driver for damaging his car. She collapsed after riding home and couldn't go to work for a week.

My heart goes out to this person's family.

Peace.

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