Montreal ghost ride honours cyclist who died following dooring incident

A group of cyclists rode along St. Denis St. Friday in honour of Bernard Carignan, who died following a dooring incident last month.

Hundreds of cyclists rode along St. Denis St. Friday, honouring a fellow cyclist by retracing the route he took every day.

Last month, 27-year-old Bernard Carignan was killed after hitting the open door of a parked car, falling and being fatally struck by a passing car.

It’s an incident referred to as dooring, and his death has renewed calls among some to impose stiffer fines for the practice.

Carignan’s custom-made bicycle was then affixed to a pole on St. Denis. His brother Francisco Carignan says it was a fitting memorial for someone who loved to ride.

“I think he would be proud. And for us for his family, I think it’s the right way to move ahead, to leave our grief,” he said.

Organizers of the ghost ride say his death shows the need for more action.

“Well I’m very, very glad to hear that the city is asking for steeper fines for dooring because currently it's $30 for dooring which means absolutely nothing,” said event co-organizer Gabrielle Anctil.

Ontario recently increased dooring fines to almost $400. Ottawa has installed warning zones where bikes come in close contact with cars.

The city of Montreal wants to install more bike paths and work with the province to encourage cyclists, pedestrians and cars to share the road.

“There are two ways to do it. Put an infrastructure in place, a safety infrastructure in place. The second one is by education,” said Montreal executive committee member Aref Salem.

But as friends and family mourn the loss of Carignan, his brother says it was a death that could have been avoided.

“I learned that in Germany they are opening their door with their right hand because it makes you see the mirror and it puts you in the right position to look backwards to verify, to make sure that nobody's coming your way, he said.

“Those are simple things but they could have saved my brother's life.”