Another frightening collision involving a cyclist and a truck in Victoria, has advocates again calling for side bars on large trucks.
In video captured on Tuesday morning, a cyclist can be seen heading through an intersection near the Johnson Street Bridge, before being struck by a truck turning right on a red light.
This incident comes less than a week after 28-year-old Agustín Beltrán was killed in a collision with a dump truck at the intersection of Hornby Street and Pacific Street in Vancouver.
In both cases, cycling advocates argue that both cyclists had the right of way and side bars on large trucks would have prevented the incidents, and the ‘simple’ safety measure would help prevent similar tragedies in the future.
“It really shows the highlight of where the limitations are, you can build a fantastically safe street and reduce crashes, just like Vancouver did, it’s a very very similar kind of intersection,” said Capital Bike spokesperson Corey Burger.
“It shows Transport Canada needs to step up and mandate truck side guards so that when mistakes happen like this one, someone doesn’t end up like in Vancouver unfortunately losing their life,” he added.
The Victoria Police Department told Global News it can’t comment on who had the right of way in the situation because the file is still under investigation.
But, a sign can be seen at the intersection prohibiting right turns on red lights — except for bikes.
“I think the responsibility lies with the operators of the vehicles,” said Jeff Leigh with Hub Cycling.
“That’s simply because upon review of video we see the lights, the signals and we see both cycling were riding in marked protected in crosswalks with lights, they were riding where they were supposed to be.”
However, he noted it’s up to them to also be aware that truck drivers might not be able to see them.
According to the B.C. Trucker’s Association, the elevated vehicle with the driver sitting on the left side, makes it difficult to notice cyclists or pedestrians during a right hand turn.
“Commercial vehicles have very very large blindspots, drivers are trained with good practice to make sure they clear their blind spots, its difficult,” said Spokesperson Dave Earle.
The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. The cyclist was sent to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Global News has contacted Transport Canada and the BC Ministry of Transportation about the issue but has not received a response.
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