nearly struck by a truck on Bayview
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
A pickup driver nearly ended my life on Friday. It took place in a spot on Bayview Avenue where everyone who's going through an intersection has to change lanes to the left to avoid the solid-line-defined right-turn lane. So, I looked left over my shoulder before changing. I saw a truck a good 100m back and went ahead and changed lanes. If he'd been doing the speed limit, it would have taken 15 seconds for him to reach me, as I was going about half the speed limit.
Instead, he was on me in a heartbeat, zipping past about 20cm away so quickly that my bike and I wobbled in his wind wake.
He then made the right turn, nearly losing control of his truck as he did so, and raced off.
I'd say he was doing 80-90k in that 50 zone.
And I just won't cycle that way any more. This is the same road I wrote about in my journal just a few days ago.
Three reasons to be thankful:
- Still alive!
- I have safe alternatives to that dangerous road.
- I live in a city where this sort of thing is no longer commonplace. That said, an acquaintance from Cycle Toronto - Gary Sim - was struck by a driver and killed June 30. I'd last seen him at the Cycle Toronto AGM back in late March, and routinely crossed paths with him on twitter until this post. (Which inevitably attracted the hate-filled, pathetic trolls, but that's another story.)