Fatal cyclist collision in Surrey spurs call for more separated bike lanes

Cycling advocates are calling for more separated bike infrastructure in Surrey, B.C., in the wake of a fatal collision earlier this week.

A cyclist was killed when the bike collided with a vehicle around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday on 104th Avenue near 120th Street.

Police said it appears the rider lost control of the bike and was struck by a semi-truck towing a trailer.

Jeff Leigh, president of Hub Cycling, said the area is extremely busy with traffic, and that the death could have been avoided with a separated bike lane.

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“We don’t have all the details of this crash and what happened, but we do know that protection means when an accident or an unexpected occurrence happens … people don’t end up colliding with vehicles,”  Leigh said.

“If there had been a barrier between the person cycling and the vehicles, it’s very unlikely they would have ended up hitting each other.”

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Hub is calling on the City of Surrey, and municipalities in Metro Vancouver more generally, to redouble their commitment to Vision Zero, an initiative aimed at eliminating deaths of all road users including cyclists, pedestrians and drivers through a variety of measures, including infrastructure safety improvements.

Surrey launched its own Vision Zero initiative in 2019, and the city has committed to building out 11 kilometres of protected bike lanes over the next several years, including six kilometres of “quick build” lanes in five key corridors started last year.

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Leigh said that there had been “good progress” from Surrey on safer infrastructure, but that there was more to do.

“The consequences are just too high,” he said.

Hub said it wants to see the city speed up the development of protected bike lanes, pedestrian crossings and traffic calming measures.

It also is calling on the provincial government to beef up enforcement and penalties for dangerous drivers.