‘I lost my partner. It’s hard’: Calgary widow pleads with drivers to watch for cyclists and pedestrians

The widow of a Calgary cyclist who was killed earlier this year while riding his bike is warning drivers to watch out for vulnerable road users.

It’s been nearly six months since Chelsea Meza’s husband Cory Meza was critically injured while he was riding his bike home from work.

Chelsea and Cory had been together for 10 years. The young couple met in college in North Dakota, got married and moved to Calgary. Chelsea describes her husband as “friendly and funny and just a great person overall.”

On May 29, Chelsea got a call that Cory had been hit by car.

“For lack of a better term, I got very lucky,” she said.  There were other people before Cory’s incident who died alone in the ICU — whose family weren’t allowed to come up there (because of COVID-19 restrictions). Luckily I got to be there.”

Cory died two days after the crash.

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“It’s been difficult. I have to deal with the police and the conditions that happened and keep learning more about what happened on May 29 and what actually happened to him, and it’s been difficult to deal with. I lost my partner. It’s hard,” Chelsea said.

Cory’s family lives in United States and hasn’t been able to come to Calgary because of COVID restrictions, and no service has been held.

“I haven’t been able to properly grieve my loved one and the people that loved Cory as much as I do because of the border closures,” Chelsea said.

Cory was riding his bike home from work at the Bike Shop. Police said he was hit by a car making a left hand turn onto Macleod Trail by 50th Avenue.

On Friday police announced the man driving the car was charged with careless driving and making an unsafe left turn.

“It was a little bit of relief mostly because I needed the clarity that Cory wasn’t at fault, but also it doesn’t bring back my husband,” Chelsea said.

The maximum fine for careless driving in Alberta is $2,000 and a three-month driving suspension.

“My husband is gone, but I think it might make people a little more cognizant if there is a chance there would be higher punishment with something like this happening, Chelsea said. “People might be more aware of other vulnerable road users and it might stop this from happening to somebody else.”

Chelsea said in the month following Cory’s death, two of his co-workers were also hit by vehicles while on their bikes.

“There are other modes of transportation and Calgarians need to be aware of them. It is important that those people are allowed to use our roads and that’s what they are there for — not just vehicles. We need to be more aware because, where I am, I don’t want anybody else to be there ever,” Chelsea said.

The driver of the car that struck Cory remained at the scene. Police said drugs and alcohol were not considered factors in the collision.

The driver charged is set to appear in court on Jan. 21.