Sunday 7 September 2014

Another fatal bicycle incident in our area

A horrible biking incident took place near Manotick. It was only a matter of time. They are saying the downpour of rain may have been partly to blame, but a garbage truck seemed to have mowed down several cyclists, with one pronounced dead on the scene. There were 900 cyclists on the road between Ottawa and Manotick. All to raise money for cancer research. I suppose it gets people out riding, but at what cost? Ride the Rideau runs for 50 or 100km.

Why aren't we finding money elsewhere, if this research is so important? We aren't able to monitor the research, either. There are those who feel that money is being wasted in fruitless research, while people need direct services. This is the same for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It's Pink Washing, jumping on a bandwagon, when we are not focusing on issues, such as pollution, pesticides and chemicals in our food, environment and our cosmetics.

OTTAWACITIZEN.COM
A 40-year-old female cyclist died Saturday morning after being hit by a dump truck along the Rideau River in the Manotick area.


I have been writing, yes, indeed, I'm fearmongering, that these huge bike rides are incidents waiting to happen. It has happened. I used to live in Manotick, and have driven River Rd. many times. Without shoulders on the roads those trying to get to work, or any other destination, or do their jobs, are severely hampered with cyclists blocking the roads.

Oncoming vehicles pull widely around them even if they are riding single-file. Even a single cyclists produces fear in those trying to share the road. You can see from my photos of similar bike trippers. These are photos from the Mississippi Mills Bicycle Month in June. It drives me nuts, as we try to get into town for groceries. These bikers don't bring money to Perth, they don't get off their bikes.


The stats show us

  • 12 cyclists have been killed on city streets since 2009. 
  • in 2012 four died in bike accidents. 3/4 were collisions with vehicles.

4 comments:

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Terrible news - never good to hear but somehow it is all the worse when ride is for charity...

I couldn't agree more that fundraising has reached the stage of missing the point. The already powerful drug researchers are the beneficiaries and that is hugely controversial in my book. Don't even get me started on the bucket malarkey...

All commendations to those who undertake such as this ride though. YAM xx

William Kendall said...

The bucket malarkey, as Yamini puts it, has become a circus in and of itself. I did see notifications of this incident when I got online. Very sad.

Red said...

I quit riding roads years ago. what these people are doing is the height of stupidity.

Roan said...

What a sad thing to happen! Motorists should be more careful. I don't ride on roads anymore, well except for back roads where I can hear a vehicle approaching and get off the road.