Memorial ride - Cyclist killed by truck

[angela bischoff]

Last Friday June 8, 2007, a cyclist was killed on Bayview Avenue at
Fifeshire Road in a collision with a truck. The last 6 cycling
fatalities in Toronto have all involved trucks.

Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists (ARC) will mark this tragic death
with a public memorial, this Friday June 15 at 7:30pm at the site of
the collision. ARC holds memorials because those dying are our fellow
cyclists. It could happen to anyone, it could happen to any one of
us. Anyone who rides a bicycle in Toronto is vulnerable and is not
adequately protected on our streets.

It is now 9 years since the Toronto Regional Coroner's report
recommended rear sideguards on large trucks. ARC asks how much longer
will the City of Toronto ignore basic safety for cyclists on our
streets? Sideguards on large trucks are mandatory in places like the
European Union. They provide safer conditions for cyclists as well as
pedestrians and smaller motor vehicles. They should be mandatory here.

ARC is calling on the City to take a leadership role by installing
sideguards on all new large vehicle purchases or leased and to have
them installed on all City vehicles by 2012. Further, any company
doing business with the City should be required by the City to have
sideguards installed by 2012. This would be a valuable first step in
pushing our provincial and federal governments to make sideguards
mandatory.

Members of the I.C.E.S. Bicycle User Group (workers at Sunnybrook
Hospital) are regular users of Bayview Avenue. They have identified
serious challenges faced by cyclists in the area. In order to cross
the 401, cyclists are forced to use this poorly designed interchange
that is heavily used by high-speed traffic because the alternative
routes are even worse. If Toronto is sincere in its desire - as
expressed by council and by Mayor Miller who helped pass the official
Bike Plan - to become a more bicycle-friendly city, then cyclists
must be able to ride safely on major streets such as Bayview,
especially where they intersect with highways.

All cyclists are welcome to attend the memorial this Friday June 15
at 7:30pm: -- a group ride to the crash site will leave from the
corner of Bloor and Spadina at 6:00pm; -- the group will rendezvous
at York Mills subway station at approx. 7:00pm; -- the ride will then
continue to the collision site to arrive at 7:30pm.

Contacts: Darren Stehr                    416 707 4744
                   Derek Chadbourne        416 828 0370

More information on the I.C.E.S. BUG can be found here, http://
www.toronto.ca/bug/tobugs/ices.htm
brandon.zagorski at ices.on.ca 416 480-4055 x2481
__
ARC News
arcannounce at respect.to
http://lists.respect.to/listinfo.cgi/arcannounce-respect.to



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