A London couple is sounding the alarm over motorized off-road bikes using city pathways and sidewalks. This comes after the woman landed in hospital after being struck by such a bike in an alleged hit-and-run this week. Christina Cook is now recovering from several injuries: A cracked vertebra, a concussion, sprained shoulder, scrapes, bruises, and road rash on her face and shoulder. She says she was struck by a driver on what she described as a modified motorized pit-bike. “It was going very, very fast. So, there was no time for me to swerve, to break, do anything, unclip myself from my bike. There was no room to dodge each other because of the construction going on,” she explained. The triathlete was on her way to train on the Thames Valley Parkway via Meadowlily when she rode her bike across the Commissioners Road East overpass at Highbury Avenue, heading east. She says she used the sidewalk on the north side to avoid road construction, and that’s when the head-on collision happened. Passers-by called 911, and London Fire and EMS responded. She was taken to hospital by ambulance, fading in and out of consciousness before coming to in the emergency department – the reality of what happened sinking in. “I think I just started going over and over in a loop of what could have happened. I have two young boys. They’re four and three. And just kind of like, ‘oh that could have happened. I could have gone over the bridge onto Highbury. I could have gone into traffic, and someone could have hit me’,” she explained while trying to contain her emotions. The location of the crash is very much an active construction site, with heavy traffic from morning until night. Road users of all kinds are forced to navigate around the roadwork. Christina’s husband, Hayden Cook, says he contacted police, claiming they initially refused to investigate. “It just feels horrible. I feel like, you’re on your own right? They tell you to do the footwork, to do the investigating yourself,” he said with frustration. He says police finally did take a statement on Friday, but only after being contacted by CTV News about the incident. “In this case, know there was a bit of a delay they were sorting through,” conceded London Police Superintendent Bill Berg. Supt. Berg says the type of bike described by Christina Cook in the crash would not be legal. “No. That’s not allowed. So that would be completely illegal. So, we will make every effort to track down the operator of that vehicle. And sometimes, we’ll spend some extra time in that location to see if that is a problem with other types of vehicles like that,” said Berg. As for Christina Cook, she can’t bring herself to look at her own bicycle just yet. And she doesn’t even know if she’ll ride again after her painful ordeal. “Luckily, I’m active and physically fit, that probably saved me. What if it was someone in a wheelchair on the sidewalk? What if it was someone in a walker? What if it was a child. Luckily it was me, and luckily, I didn’t end up in the road. But what does it take?”
