MONTREAL – Mathilde Blais’ death was avoidable, according to Quebec coroner Paul G. Dionne.
The 33-year-old cyclist was heading south on a Saint-Denis underpass when she was struck by a crane truck on April 28, 2014.
She was killed instantly when the trailer’s tire crushed her head.
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But according to Dionne, simply sharing the road, by slowing down or changing lanes, could have saved her life.
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The coroner insists the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) needs to rewrite the Highway safety Code to enforce minimum distances between vehicles and cyclists.
“The lane was not wide enough for the truck and the bicycle,” he writes.
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Dionne also asks for more secure bike routes to be installed on the roads, especially on bigger streets, and for trucks to have mandatory skirts or security barriers.
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The coroner concludes Blais was an experienced cyclist and there was no indication of drug or alcohol abuse.
However, he could not say whether the truck hit Blais while she was riding or if she fell and was then run over.
“She was hit by the trailer’s front wheels…the first impact was to the head,” Dionne notes.
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