Renewed call for safety upgrades after cyclist struck at spot where collision killed Saanich teen

There is a renewed push for road safety upgrades in Saanich, B.C., after a cyclist suffered a broken leg Monday in the same place a 16-year-old boy was killed two months ago.

Paul O’Callaghan was cycling home from work on Monday, when he was hit by a trailer being towed by a pickup truck driver.

“(I) went catapulting through the air and then landed on concrete, asphalt and then onto the grass,” O’Callaghan told Global News.

“I was in a lot of pain.”

Several witnesses came to his aid, including a woman O’Callaghan said was holding his head, stroking his forehead and trying to keep him calm.

“I noticed she was crying as well, I saw she had tears, and I said to her, why are you crying? And then she told me who she was,” he said.

The woman, it turned out, was Crystal Bourque, the mother of 16-year-old Kaydence Bourque who was fatally struck at the same location — just steps form his home — exactly two months earlier.

“I couldn’t believe someone who has such a fresh memory of such a tragic incident is there tending to someone and giving her care and her compassion,” O’Callaghan said.

“It was really emotional that she was giving me care, when she was probably in bits as well because of what was happening. It must’ve been a terrible flashback for her.”

2:14 Saanich residents rally to demand safer streets

In a statement to Global News, Bourque described seeing the collision, and running out to help while calling 911 — and the wave of emotion that swept over her afterward.

“I was left sobbing uncontrollably and shaking; my stress skyrocketed. Each day has been challenging and I live in constant dread of the sound of sirens or flashing lights,” Bourqe said.

Bourque said the collision that took her son has left her living with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and in the wake of the O’Callaghan’s collision, she said she doesn’t understand why nothing has been done at the crash site to improve safety.

“We moved to this neighbourhood nine years ago. The traffic has increased exponentially. It has become a thoroughfare for many commuters. Some of the speeds I witness travelling this street are far above the posted limit,” Bourque said.

“This street is walked and biked by many people and countless children. It leads to four different schools K-12. I feel like it should be treated like a school zone. Reduce the speed limit, add signage and speed bumps … Everyone is someone’s child and I don’t want any other mother to go through what I am.”

In the wake of Kaydence’s death, Saanich community members rallied to pressure the city to speed up its 30-year active transportation plan, which includes road safety upgrades.

Basil Langevin, organizer with the group Safer Saanich, told Global News he was frustrated little has happened since then.

“The best time to fix this safety issue was years ago, when this lighted crosswalk was installed,” he standing at the site of the collision.

2:08 Saanich launches e-bike incentive program

“The second best time to fix this issue was the Tuesday morning, the day after Kaydence was hit. That was two months ago. Two months ago a young boy was killed here.”

Langevin said the municipality is bogged down in its master plan, which includes multi-million-dollar infrastructure upgrades, and needs to get some quick fixes on the street while the more onerous planning work grinds its way through the process.

“Get out on the street with a bucket of paint, some pylons, some traffic cones, wherever there is an issue,” he said.

“These are not accidents, these are inevitabilities.”

Saanich Mayor Fred Haynes called the collisions a “total heartbreak,” and said the municipality was committed to accelerating the timeline on its active transportation plan.

“We are doing everything we can to look at what happened in this circumstance,” Haynes said.

Haynes said the city was limited in what it could do before the investigation into Kaydence’s death was complete, but that he expected a report on the issue from Saanich’s traffic committee to be presented to council by early March.

“I’m just so sorry this has happened, and we’re doing everything we can to address it in the way that will bring the correct solutions,” Haynes said.

O’Callaghan is recovering at home form the physical and mental trauma of the crash.

But he says urgent action is required to prevent future collisions like the one that left him with a broken leg.

“We’re a growing population, density is increasing, there are more and more cars on the road and there are certainly more bikes nowadays,” he said.

“I think Saanich and Victoria have to address these issues urgently, not have five, 10, 30-years plans. Something that needs to be done now.”