Rally calls for cycling infrastructure after near-fatal collision

Cyclists are rallying Thursday to demand safer infrastructure at a central Ottawa intersection that was the site of a near-fatal collision between a cyclist and a dump truck driverlast Friday.

The collision at Gladstone Avenue and Rochester Street happened on June 16 just before 7:45am when the female cyclist was struck, leaving her with life-threatening injuries.

The intersectionis well-known to locals, who have long been concerned with the lack of bike infrastructure on Gladstone.

Community members want concrete barriers, flex posts and better signs, as well as a commitment to completea feasibility study that was approved by city council in late April.

• Cyclist in life-threatening condition after collision

Erin Sirett lives just a few blocks from the siteand felt compelled to help organize the rally with her sister afterthe crash.

"My heart just sunk," she said. "It's especially awful because it was entirely preventable."

Sirett is an avid cyclistand is deeply familiar with the bike lines in Ottawa.

"It's a major east-west corridor for cyclists," she said. "If you want to get home fromCentretown, that's probably the route you're going to take."

Shesaid she hopes the rally, plannedright before a9:30 a.m. city transportation committee meeting, can spur council into building a segregated bike lane on Gladstone.

"There needs to be physical separation between the cyclists and the vehicles, because when those two meet, the cyclist is extremely vulnerable."

• Road where dump truck struck cyclist was approved for bike-lane studyin April
• Cycling safety in the National Capital Region by the numbers

She highlighted that other cities, mostly in Europe, have successfullyimplementedsegregated bike lanesand sees no reason why Ottawa can't learnfrom them.

"Ottawa has made progress, but there's a lot more work to be done," she said.

A key problem, Sirettsaid, is that the intersection is part of aseries oftruck routes in Ottawa where full loads can travel freely.

While Gladstone is an officialtruck route,it's also listed on many of Ottawa's cycling maps.

SomersetCoun. Ariel Troster has said she will bring forward a motion about immediate measures for Gladstone, including concrete barriers, Sirett said.

"There's no time to waste," Sirett said. "We know what needs to be done here and it needs to be implemented right away."

A painful reminder

For Nicole Grindell, the news was a painful flashback towhenher sonJean-Pierre Morinwas struck and killed by a truckat the same intersection on Sept. 18, 2002.

Grindell said she was "shocked to learn" the street is a truck route and "nothing has changed over 20 years."

"When I saw that mangled bike on the cornerthat was exactly on the same corner, it shook me," she said on CBC Radio'sOttawa Morning on Tuesday.

"So many people in that community were impacted because of my son's passing.I can't imagine that this is still going on and nothing is being done to protect the cyclists and even the drivers."

Cycling safety in Ottawa

Fifty-four cyclists wereseriously injured in collisionsand seven people died in Ottawa between 2018 and 2021.

Data for 2022 is still being collectedand data for 2023 is not yet available.

In that span, 2019 was the deadliest year for cyclists with four people killed in collisions.

"We know there's somepolitical will in Ottawa, and hopefully our rally can show the transportation committee that this is important to the community," Sirett said.