A cyclist is recovering after being run over by a semi-truck on a bike path in Montreal’s Old Port. Montreal police (SPVM) received a 911 call at 8 a.m. Thursday morning reporting a collision between an 18-wheeler and a cyclist on des Moulins Street near Quai-Bickerdike Street, just east of Highway 10. When officers arrived, they located the 28-year-old woman on the ground, who sustained upper and lower body injuries. “The truck was going north on Chemin des Moulins, and while he made a turn, it was at this moment that there would have been a collision with the cyclist who was going north,” said SPVM spokesperson Caroline Chevrefils. The woman was sent to hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Chevrefils added. The 68-year-old male driver of the truck was not injured. There was no scene or investigation, and the collision is not considered criminal. ‘It’s almost a miracle’ cyclist wasn’t seriously injured The bike path in question is busy but also a route for heavy trucks. Velo Quebec’s Magali Bebronne said the collision never should have happened. “It’s almost a miracle that this cyclist came out of this crash with only minor injuries,” she said. CAA Quebec’s safety director, Andre Durocher, says that the area could be better designed. “Can we do something to better the physical environment, the engineering of the way the roads are made? Let’s look at the opportunities to see how we could have avoided that,” he said. Durocher says it’s time to rethink how different modes of transport can co-exist. “Because you see a multiplication of micro-transportation things, whether it be motorized skateboards, scooters, etc.” he said. “They all have a place because it means less cars, less pollution, but it also means more awareness.” Bebronne said in the case on Thursday, a fix isn’t complicated. “It’s an intersection where maybe a light would be warranted to make sure that the kind of turning movements of vehicles don’t happen at the same time as cyclists go by,” she said. Truck driver Steve Mercier captured the video and posted the footage online. He said the risks of driving trucks through dense urban areas are pushing some truckers away. “To ride a truck in Montreal with cyclists, it can’t work,” he said. “The roads are too small, the conditions too bad.” He said that trucks and bikes just don’t mix, especially in the Old Port. He thinks pedestrians and cyclists are not cautious enough. “People don’t care about the dangers around the trucks ... The last thing we want -- we don’t want to kill people,” he said. Mercier believes the dashcam footage helped clear the driver’s name. As the cyclist continues to recover, the video is raising a bigger question about urban design, accountability and who gets priority on streets designed for everyone.
