CYCLIST KILLED, SPURS OTHERS INTO ACTION OVER LACK OF BIKE LANES

As a cyclist, you probably enjoy being able to get exercise and go where you want. You may ride near roads, which you’re likely to know can be dangerous due to motor vehicles and distracted or negligent drivers. While you can take care to avoid accidents, they still happen and need to be addressed. You can make a claim against a dangerous driver, but avoiding an accident altogether is the goal.

In Victoria, cyclists are calling for more protected bicycling lanes. According to a report from March 29, the city doesn’t have protected bike lanes for cyclists. Recently, a 73-year-old woman was riding her bike on the street in the morning rush hour when she was struck by a delivery truck.

The city does have a plan at the moment, named Biketoria, which calls for sight bike corridors that would travel through the city and the same location where that woman was killed. Her death has drawn attention to the lack of safety on the roads for cyclists, though, especially in a city like Victoria, which claims it’s the cycling capitol of Canada.

Cyclists are concerned, the news reports, because not enough has been done to protect them. As the weather warms up, more cyclists are going to be heading onto the roads, and with dangerous areas and few cycling pathways, some believe that the number of injuries and fatalities are just going to rise. The constable working on the case has stated that both drivers and cyclists need to be aware of each other to prevent these incidents in the future.

Source: CBC News, “Victoria cyclists call for protected bike lanes after woman killed,” Megan Thomas, March 29, 2016