MONTREAL – Cyclists, friends and family of Mathilde Blais held a ghost bike ceremony Thursday evening to mark the second anniversary of the 33-year-old’s death.
Blais died after being hit by a truck while riding a Bixi bike in an underpass on Saint-Denis Street, just south of Rosemount Boulevard.
“We’re here to remember Mathilde, but this serves as a timeline to show nothing has changed,” cyclist and ghost bike ceremony organizer Gabrielle Anctil told Global News Thursday.
READ MORE: Montreal cyclists take part in ride of silence
Blais’ mother, Geneviève Laborde, stood with others as they placed flowers and candles next to the ghost bike, part of a bigger movement of white bicycles placed at accident scenes to remember cyclists who died.
“I’m crushed, it has been two years, but the ghost bike community has kept me strong,” Laborde said.
She worries about other cyclists using the underpass.
After Blais’ death, a coroner’s report recommended changes to the Highway Safety Code that would require vehicles to stay one metre away from bikes.
READ MORE: City of Montreal wants safer streets for cyclists and cars
Last week, the City of Montreal announced it would continue to allow cyclists to ride on sidewalks and would start narrowing the lanes under some overpasses, but not on the one where Blais died.
“I really hope that things will start to get done soon, it’s been two years and the risks are the same,” Laborde said.
Cyclists said they will continue to push the provincial and municipal governments to follow up on their promise to make the roads safer.
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