Take the Lane

Cyclist dies after being hit by passenger train

My thoughts are with the family of the 76-year-old cyclist who was killed today when he was clipped by a Via Rail train in Kitchener.

According to this report in The Record, the man had waited for a freight train to back out of a siding at a point where there are double tracks. When the freight train had cleared the crossing, he slipped around the gates, which were still down, and started to cross, not realizing that there was a Via Train oncoming.

The man's name has not been released by police yet. I would guess, based on the photo of the urban-style bike equipped with fenders, a light, cable lock and panniers, that he was a regular city rider, the kind you see every day.

 

Driver who killed Barrie Conrod gets $1,000 fine, no jail

I truly don't know what to make of the final disposition of the case of Dale Wideman, who nodded off at the wheel of his SUV this year and fatally struck Barrie Conrod, who was out on a Sunday ride with his wife, Heather Caron.

The 32-year-old Wideman, with no previous record of any kind, was fined $1,000 after pleading guilty to the Highway Traffic Act offence of careless driving. He will have to do 10 hours of community service -- probably talking to kids about the perils of distracted driving. No licence suspension. No jail time.

According to the Record report on this case, the justice of the peace said that Wideman appeared "genuinely remorseful." Wideman's defence lawyer said that if the nodding off had happened just a few seconds before or after the actual incident, "there may have been no repercussions."

Gee. The way I see it, there were no repercussions for Wideman, anyway. The $1,000 fine doesn't even cover the cost of the bike. The same day in another court in town, a woman was sentenced to two years in prison for impersonating a nurse. The essence of her crime is that she dished out Tylenol and meds to seniors while being paid for being an RN, when she wasn't. No one was hurt, except maybe the egos of the nursing homes that hired her without checking her credentials closely. The scales of justice sometimes seem to defy the laws of physics.

Not that it is my business to seek justice in this case. Conrod left behind his wife from his first marriage, his adult children and his new wife and riding companion, Heather Caron. I wasn't at the court, but the print and video reports indicated that family was satisfied with judgment and want to move on.

Hard to know how I would act in such a case. There's been a lot of time to grieve since the May 6 accident.

The memorial ride for Conrod on May 13 was truly an inspiring event, and perhaps helped Caron and family members come to grips with Conrod's death in a way that no court procedure could have done.

What happened to Conrod can happen to any of us on a bicycle. The Tiberiu David case of earlier this year is another instance where a cyclist who was doing everything according to the rules of the road -- even riding in a designated bicycle lane -- was killed by a motorist who eventually got a slap on the wrist (in the case of Matthew Waltenberry, he was fined $1,000 for careless driving and lost his licence for 18 months). 

That's why I have a rear-view mirror on my helmet. I'm ready to bail at any moment.

The gallows humourists at work often ask co-workers to write things down that might be essential for the next day's work "in case you get hit by a bus." Or an SUV. Ride carefully.

Driver pleads guilty in Barrie Conrod death

Check out this story on The Record website for the guilty plea of Dale Wideman in the tragic death of Barrie Conrod earlier this year.

Conrod's widow, Heather Caron, has more forgiveness in her heart than many of us. More than me, for sure.

 

Lower speed limits are in our future

Way back in 2010, while at Velo-city Global 2010 in Copenhagen, I posted on a presentation from John Whitelegg, a prof in transportation studies from John Moores University in Liverpool.

The post was titled "Are lower urban speed limits in our future?", based on his research showing that 95 per cent of peds and cyclists will survive being hit by objects travelling at a speed of 32 km/h or less, while fully 55 per cent won't survive being struck at 48 km/h or faster.

So, of course, it was with interest that I read the reportage on the recent Ontario coroner's report on pedestrian deaths in Ontario. While the coroner's Report on Cycling Deaths (released in June, go here for both reports) made virtually no mention of speed limits, the attention on the Pedestrian Death Review seemed to be entirely about the speed limits.

In fact, that was one recommendation of many. Here's the recommendation: "The MTO should amend the Highway Traffic Act to allow local municipalities to lower the unsigned default speed limit to 40 kilometres an hour on residential streets from the current limit of 50 kilometres an hour." (It was later elaborated to indicate that speed limits on residential streets should be reduced to 30 km/h while all other municipal streets should be 40 km/h.)

There were lots of other recommendations: that Ontario communities should adopt a "complete streets" approach to planning and redevelopment (a recommendation that also was the first item in the cycling deaths review); that the province should develop a walking strategy; that side guards be manadatory on transport trucks (also in the cycling deaths review); that the Driver's Handbook be updated to reflect the new realities (also in the cycling review); and that there be publlic education and police education and enforcement (also in the cycling review).

You could view both reports as convergent (the exceptions being the speed limits, mentioned only in the pedestrian review, and the three-foot passing law and mandatory helmets, mentioned only in the cycling review).

I think you can read a few things from both reviews:

One is that complete streets is the way of the future for municipal planning. No surprise since it is already happening at the grassroots level. Eventually, the provincial funding agencies will respond.

Another is that truck side guards are going to happen. They are already happening ... you can see examples on the major highways every day.

And another is lower speed limits. Not one of the "convergent" items, but cyclist and pedestrian advocates have been talking about lower limits for years. It fits with the complete streets planning model and is the logical way to reduce insurance costs, health funding, and energy consumption. Every roadway innovation of recent years -- traffic calming, roundabouts, community safety zones -- has been intended to reduce speed limits in the urban/suburban setting.

Lower speed limits are in our future and that can only be good news for cyclists.

Death of Tiberiu David results in $2,000 fine

It hardly sounds like enough of a punishment or a message to the public about the security of vulnerable road users on provincial highways.

Today in Provincial Offences Court, a 26-year-old former Kitchener man now living in British Columbia was fined $1,000 for careless driving and $1,000 for driving with a suspended licence for the September 2010 death of 43-year-old Tiberiu David, who was struck from behind and killed while riding his bicycle in the bicycle lane on University Avenue in Waterloo.

Matthew Waltenberry was not in the courtroom on Queen Street in Kitchener. His laywer, Harold Cox, did all the talking for what was, in effect, a plea deal. Waltenberry pled guilty to two of the charges in the fatailty, while a third charge, or using a false driver's licence, was dropped. He also pled guilty to two additional charges of driving without a licence, for two random traffic stops in January 2011.

The penalty was $1,000 for each charge, for a total of $4,000. Because the charges are Highway Traffic Act offences, jail time was not in the cards.

There was some energy generated around the idea of putting Waltenberry on probation. Apparently, this isn't often done for Highway Traffic Act offences, especially for someone who has not previous record. The Justice of the Peace, Michael Cuthbertson, said that "a message needs to be sent to Mr. Waltenberry and the public at large" and thought that probation might be a message. Since Waltenberry was still driving while his licence was suspended (for unpaid fines) when he killed David, it was clear that "the last (suspension) did not deter him," said Cuthbertson.

The Crown attorney, Ralph Cotter, agreed that Waltenberry "took someone else's life while driving," and Cox agreed to the idea of probation, so a one-year term of probation was added.

The defence lawyer painted a bit of picture of the motorist: According to Cox, Waltenberry "went to pieces" after the Sept. 1, 2010 fatality. His health and wellness marketing magazine, Tri-City Trulife Magazine, foundered, and it was a five months later that he was twice driving while suspended on routine traffic stops. Waltenberry is now a manual labourer in B.C., living with his girlfriend.

About the actual cause of the accident or the impact of Tiberiu David's death on his family, the court heard nothing. Cotter said Waltenberry struck David "for reasons unknown," which is court-speak for "the investigators got nuthin." After the hearing, Cotter said that the family declined to submit a victim impact statement or appear in court.

No identifiable cause for the fatal collision, so not enough evidence to make any sort of Criminal Code charge stick, and thus, no incarceration. No family member to speak for the victim. The penalty is a series of fines, and a somewhat vague and possibly inconsequential term of probation.

So what is the message to the general public?

 

(Here's a link to The Record's reporting on the case.)

Police reporting in Fogolin cycling crash not up to standard

More news about cycle coach Frank Fogolin of Kitchener and his injuries from Sunday's crash are on the Record website.

What surprises me in all this is how lightly his injuries were treated by Waterloo Region Police Service.

There was not a major incident report released to any of the local media after the event on Sunday, when Fogolin was knocked down from behind and taken to hospital. In fact, it took a Facebook message from one of his cycling students, Olympian Leigh Hobson, to let anyone know that this had happened.

When I first asked questions about this earlier this week, I was told there was no report, and perhaps the incident had happened outside the Waterloo Region. Later, when I got the actual location from Hobson (on Ira Needles Boulevard in Waterloo), WRPS came up with a report. But even that report fell short of the reality of the case.

I posted on the incident on Wednesday, based on what I had learned from the police and Hobson, but the major media had to depend solely on the police report which said that Fogolin had received minor injuries and had been taken to hospital, held overnight for observation and released.

Clearly, the injuries weren't minor. The guy was knocked unconscious, had a bleed to the brain, has had part of his memory wiped and will be in rehab for months. This is minor?

And clearly, he is still in hospital and will stay there for some time. If this is the standard for police report-taking, how many cases can be thrown out of court because the reporting officer did a slipshod job?

 

Why are unused rail lines left to be wheel traps for cyclists?

It is mighty irritating that the 40-something cyclist who died in Toronto on Monday (see Star story here) fell because his wheel was jammed into disused street car tracks.

According to the Star item, the tracks hadn't been used since the 1980s. Basically, they've been sitting there for nearly 30 years waiting for someone to make a wrong move.

This guy did make a wrong move, went down hard and hit his head. He was essentially dead at the scene. Much will be made, I suspect, of the fact that we wasn't wearing a helmet. I'm all for protective equipment (I wear a helmet), but the protective equipment argument can be taken to extremes. Should everyone going to a nightclub wear Kevlar vests, or should we just search patrons for handguns?

Should we all wear helmets, or should we make the roadway environment safe for users? Riding Toronto streets where there are a lot of streetcar tracks is a real obstacle course. I try to cross rail lines at a 90-degree angle, but in some downtown areas of Toronto, a rider would have to have the handlebars in constant motion to weave through the labyrinth of lines.

Perhaps riders should stay clear of the worst areas. Perhaps the city should look to "deactivate" unused rail lines, so they aren't a hazard.

 

 

Cyclist killed at Olympic Park

Incredibly sad that a 30-year-old cyclist was killed Wednesday night near Olympic Park in London by a double-decker Olympic bus that was ferrying journalists between venues.

You can read a fairly extensive report here at The Independent, but there is little info about the rider. Most reports indicate that the cyclist was a member of the public, rather than an Olympic official, participant or ticket-holder.

Looking to teach kids about assemblying bikes?

If you're a Toronto-area bike mechanic with time on your hands, you might like to check out this posting on the Green Jobs website.

Charlie's Bike Shop, which runs the Charlie's Freewheels program that allows young people to experience how to rebuild a bicycle and provides free bikes to kids in Toronto's Regent Park, is looking for someone or some people to helm two one-week stints of leading 10 young people (aged 13-16) in the stripping and assembly of a bicycle. The first stint starts next week, so move fast if you are interested.

Even if you can't volunteer, you might linger a while on the Charlies' Bike Shop site and read about Charlie Princep, the young cross-Canada cyclist who was killed in 2008 after being overtaken by a driver in Alberta, and who provided the inspiration for both the shop and the program. Princep's blog, Double Cross (a reference to his ride back and forth across the continent in 2007) is still accessible.

Distracted driver gets a $100 wrist slap

I'm going to blame being out of the country in April for having missed this story in the Kenosha (Wisc.) News, about the wrist slap for a deadly distracted driver, although I have been watching the progress of the case of Devin Kunich, who was run down and killed back in August 2011.

Kunich's dad, Gary Kunich, has been campaigning for awareness about the impacts of distracted driving through his contacts with legislators and his motivation of his son's family and friends through his Facebook site, Devin Kunich will live forever in our hearts. 

In my original post on this case, I wrote that the driver, 18-year-old Quashae Taylor, was blind in one eye, not wearing corrective lenses, talking on the cellphone, in foggy conditions, when she hit what she thought was a deer. Although she was charged with negligent homicide and faced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000, she pleaded no contest to a traffic ticket for inattentive driving and was fined $100.

According to the defence, the dead cyclist was wearing black, had alcohol in his system and was "probably listening to music." As is so often the case when the only witness to a crash that kills a cyclist is the motorist, the prosecution was unable to prove that the motorist was in the wrong. So infuriating.

Gary Kunich is still working to make people aware of the impacts of distracted driving, and loobying for change in the U.S. For instance, he is asking his group to respond to Tennessee Congresswoman Diane Black, who sought the removal from the recent U.S. federal transportation bill of incentives to state  whcih strengthen laws against texting and cellphone use while driving. The Republican mantra is that this is federal government pushing states around. Kunich was trying, rightly, to point out that it's about better laws.