tragedy

Yesterday a 50-year-old female bicycle commuter was killed in a collision with a garbage truck at 7:30 a.m. at 100 Avenue and 112 Street, a corner I ride past most days. Yesterday I didn't take that route, but rode up the Fortway Road hill instead. I always feel sad to hear about a fatal cycling accident, but this one struck especially close to home -- a woman, about my age, riding the same route I do at about the same time. It sounds like she was just a normal commuter -- riding on the road, not the sidewalk, just as she is supposed to, wearing a helmet, just as she is supposed to. She was going straight through a green light, not blowing a stop sign or running a red light or one of the equally stupid things I all too often see other cyclists do.

Anyway, so I feel really sad about that, and also pretty determined to use Fortway as long as the weather is good. In the winter, cyclists on 100 Avenue have to ride smack-dab in the driving lane, so it is quite a bit safer. Right now, the road is clear and even swept of debris, so there is room to ride beside the motor vehicles, which is what this woman apparently did, only to get hit by a right-turning truck. Although I am always on the alert for right-turning vehicles as I ride on this road, it only takes one lapse of judgment for an incident like this to occur.