A driver has uploaded another dash cam video showing an interaction between a vehicle and a cyclist on Vancouver’s streets.
This time it involves a cyclist who’s bike is crushed by a gas tanker truck.
The video, taken on July 4, shows the truck travelling south on Rupert Street towards Superstore and the intersection with Grandview Highway.
It shows a cyclist pass on the right, travelling in the bike lane.
The truck then passes the cyclist as it approaches the driveway of the gas station. It signals right, slows down and then turns into the gas station.
However, the cyclist is also at the driveway of the station and is forced to slow down and stop.
As the truck continues to turn and get closer to the cyclist, she gets off her bike. That’s when the back tires of the bike are pulled under the truck.
The cyclist can be seen trying to pull her bike up but it becomes mangled under the wheels of the tanker.
“I think the video highlights a lot of issues,” said Jeff Leigh, committee chair for HUB Cycling Vancouver.
“The first one is, I’ve heard numerous comments that the cyclist should not have been riding on the right of the truck. There’s two sides to that. The cyclist was perfectly within their rights to ride there. It was a marked lane.”
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“But anyone riding in that position should be very aware of traffic around them because even if you have the right-of-way, you need to watch for vehicles making movements like that truck did.”
Leigh said because the cyclist was in a marked lane, they legally had the right of way. He said the the truck crossed the line and across the next lane and was in the wrong.
However safety is still key in cases like this.
“We advise all cyclists to watch out at all times to make sure they’re keeping themselves as safe as possible,” said Leigh.
He added that improvements can be made to the trucks on the road to reduce their blind spots.
“There are initiatives underway to add additional mirrors, fender mounted mirrors in particular to these large trucks and that reduces the blind spots and gives them a better field of coverage.”
“There’s other initiatives underway to add turn signals down the side of large trucks, because that person riding would not have seen those turn signals as she was already past the rear of the truck, but if that truck had turn signal repeaters all down the side, she would have had an additional alert that the truck was planning on turning.”
Vancouver police said that as of Thursday afternoon, no report had been filed of the collision.
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