Woman struck by cyclist 'expected to live'

Curtis Rush, Police Reporter

The 56-year-old woman who was struck by a cyclist at a Toronto intersection on Tuesday remains in hospital but is now out of grave danger, police say.

Const. Hugh Smith of Traffic Services said the woman has “been stabilized” in hospital after suffering what were initially described as life-threatening head injuries in the collision.

“She is expected to live,” Smith said.

The unidentified woman was knocked backwards and struck her head on the pavement after a cyclist plowed through a pedestrian intersection at Huron St. and Dundas St. W. on Tuesday at about 11 a.m.

Pedestrians were cleared by the traffic lights to cross the intersection, police say. The woman who was struck was walking eastbound.

The cyclist was going south on Huron St. and was attempting to enter a one-way street going the wrong way, police said, before knocking over the pedestrian.

Two other pedestrians weren’t hurt.

The 49-year-old cyclist, who was not injured, was fined $400 for careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act.

His identity has not been revealed.

 

Comments

[Matt]

This was a totally avoidable injury. It's clearly unbelievable that in today age we have a separate set of road rules. As a avid biker I follow all the rules of the road. This is not an an accident as the article claims. This was a total case of clear cut gross negligence. Its not only heart breaking, that this causes such horrendous injuries; If I was the family I would be legally going after this man in civil court and make him accountable. This should never have happened.

[Miss Lynx]

I think it's ridiculous that someone who seriously injured another person, particularly in the course of doing something that would have been illegal even if no one had been hurt, should get off that lightly. Whether someone is driving a car or riding a bike, they need to be held responsible for their actions. Even though the victim is now expected to live, serious head injuries don't just go away - they can often cause lifelong disability. And a human life is worth a lot more than $400.

Oh, and by the way - I am a cyclist. But I don't think we should be held to any different standard than anyone else. Everyone - drivers, cyclists and pedestrians - needs to behave responsibly and ethically, and should be held accountable if they don't.

[Susan Lyndon]

I know of two people who were seriously injured by cyclists and one took 6 months to recover. Bicycles need to be licensed for the streets so the license can be taken away.

[MacGregrrrr the Terrier-ist]

I still don't understand - why wasn't the cyclist charged for riding the wrong way on a one-way street, why wasn't he charged for running the red light, and why wasn't he charged for reckless driving (i.e. he wasn't being careless - he was RECKLESS)

[Steve C.]

Cyclists are the WORST traffic offenders of all. Motorists are always being held accountable by these cyclists, when in fact if cyclists drove the way they ride, they'd be the worst of all! They want to be respected on the road but yet they rarely EVER obey one single traffic law. Not one cyclist comes to a full stop at a stop sign, for example. This was inevitable.

[oztest]

Any reason why the cyclist's name hasn't been revealed?

If this has been a young male motorist, there name would have been splashed in every headline about this incident. Can we have some parity on information for these type of events.

[Horstradamus]

$400, that's it? How pathetic. Hope there's a lawsuit as well that cleans the cyclist out.

[JC]

If someone did this with a car, they would go to jail. Yet if you do it with a bike, you get a $400 ticket. Wow.

[Munnemun]

Man this sucks. I feel bad for this woman who was struck by the bike. At the same time, how often do pedestrians get plowed down by cars, which doesn't make the news??

[Rob]

As an avid cyclist myself and one that respects traffic regulations this is a shocking incident. Just this morning I just about hit another cyclist broadside when he decided to run a red light while I was proceeding through the intersection on my green. In the past, I have also been hit by another cyclist who decided to run a red light and it was fortunate that I was wearing a helmet. In regard to JC's comment that striking someone with a bicycle is dealt with leniently, the same goes for car drivers. A cyclist in Waterloo was struck from behind and killed while he was in a bike lane by a disqualified driver and the only charges that were laid was driving while disqualified and careless driving. And then it took the police 4 months to lay charges.

[GHume]

Rather than try to spend a whole lot of money for a licence we should be expanding our Police Traffic Divisions and be just like Ottawa Police. They stop all cyclists riding on sidewalks, riding without a light after sunset and disobeying signals. However, HOW can we possibly do this when cars roll through stop signs, speed through red lights unchecked! A complete crackdown by Police everywhere is required to make our roads safer!

[Solo]

All road users need to follow the rules and behave safely. It's not about cars, vs cyclists, vs pedestrians. As a cyclist, I am frustrated by careless behavior of all road users- whether they're in motor vehicles or on bicycles. I have twice this year come very close to being hit as a result of drivers not signaling, and almost been doored twice (one I had to stop so fast, it resulted in injury). I do not blame all drivers for these instances; and it's not fair to point the finger at all cyclists for this incident.

In terms of the fine, perhaps fines should be higher for all road users. 2 years ago, a cyclist was killed by a driver opening their vehicle door improperly (not looking for oncoming traffic before opening) and fined only $110.

[Justin]

How is this not assault?

[NikM]

Hey JC,

If someone did this with a car....they wouldn't go to jail. People are killed every year by careless drivers and those drivers get fines. Ask the pedestrians killed in Toronto this year. A woman killed by a garbage truck turning right....a woman killed by a police car turning right.....none went to jail The problem isn't cyclists....the problem is the law.

[Bike Commuter]

This is a tragedy and the cyclist was clearly in the wrong. It is quite disheartening, though, to see cyclists slandered constantly in the media. We are not all reckless and many of us do obey traffic laws. I would never ride the wrong way on the street, but every day, careless car drivers put me in danger on the road during my commute (I am a professional who pays lots of tax just like drivers do) by obstructing the bike lanes (where they even exist). There is very little respect for cyclists on the road. The only way this mutual animosity is going to be resolved is through mutual respect, and that means acknowledging that there are lots of good cyclists out there and building the infrastructure that we need to keep safe as well.

[John Godfrey Spragge]

For starters-- this shouldn't have happened. Thank the Creator that the victim lived. And, yes, those from both sides who encourage cyclists to ride as if everyone on the streets had declared war on us have something to answer for.

That said, let's consider the facts. Cyclists answer to the same laws drivers do. The Ontario Highway Traffic Act covers all road users. The cyclist in this incident got charged with the most serious offence under the act. As the Star has pointed out, drivers who have killed pedestrians have also had the same charge or lesser charges leveled against them. And motorists knock pedestrians down in crosswalks; a friend of mine recently spent about eight weeks in hospital getting hit. The idea that cyclists constitute some kind of protected class who can get away with offences that would send a motorist to jail just doesn't hold.

[Ryan]

"But I don't think we should be held to any different standard than anyone else."

We aren't, really. The Star ran a story a few months ago about the laughable penalties drivers face for collisions causing death: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/992993--is-a-person-s-life-worth-500-highway-traffic-act-says-yes

Most of the same penalties are applicable to drivers AND cyclists. It's just that the penalties are absurdly small for actions that can cause serious injury or death.

[Garry]

Great headline. Yes, the woman struck by the cyclist certainly did expect to live, and even more certainly she did not expect to come to an untimely passing at the handlebars of an errant cyclist.

[Shlaw]

With the additional funding for police and the money the city is willing to devote to discouraging cycling (see Jarvis bike lanes), they could really achieve both objectives, I'm sure that they could find some gravy to redeploy to crack down on bad cyclists.

In all seriousness, as a cyclist I believe that such a crackdown does need to happen. Many drivers I know don't treat cyclists seriously because they see some cyclists behaving badly. Getting rid of those bad cyclists would benefit everybody.