Another Cyclist Lost
June 8, 2006 | 
Author We’ve had too many bicycle deaths this year in the GTA. On Tuesday evening, Sgt Gregory Stobbart, a 45-year-old police officer was killed while cycling north along Tremaine Rd in Milton. He was struck by the side-mirror of a dump truck, knocked into a ditch and later pronounced dead at Hamilton General Hospital. Our hearts go out to the Stobbart family.
We talk about “smart commuting” and even set up pretty websites for the purpose, but cycling is essentially an afterthought — or a photo op — when politicians look at ways to ease urban congestion and smog. Society-at-large has almost zero interest in sharing roads with bicycles. Two years ago the city of Toronto trumpeted plans for a dramatic expansion of cycling routes in the city. Last year the city actually added just one kilometer to the system. My own route takes me south on what was a two-lane+bike lane, tree-lined section of Dufferin Street. To make way for gigantic housing developments, they have widened the road to five car lanes (turn lane in the center) and removed the dedicated bike lane that had been in place for the past dozen years or so. Progress, eh?
The Star’s reportage of the latest cycling death is tinged with grim irony: “The 30-year-old Grimsby man who was driving the truck was not injured.”
Really?
Posted in Cycling