It was pouring outside when I began to write this piece. Seems fitting.
When I first read about the incident involving an unnamed female cyclist killed in a traffic accident I was overwhelmed immediately with grief. My intense grief came from my assumption that the victim was most likely a mom (the report I read said the woman was in her early 40's and had a bike trailer attached to her bike). I related to this anonymous victim. I wept thinking about how her partner might tell her children of their loss. I thought about my own children, I pictured how devastating this type of loss would be to them. I couldn't help but imagine how horrifying an experience this would be for all who knew her. I became consumed in sadness for the day. This was before I found out it was Jenna.
It was then that I became furious. And then reality struck, it could have been any one of us.
"A preventable death" they keep calling it. The accident that took the life of Jenna Morrison on November 7th 2011 at 11:30am.
She was 38 years old. She was five months pregnant. She was a mother and a loving partner. She was on her way to pick up her son from school when she was clipped by a truck making a tight turn in the same direction as her and she was pulled under the back wheels.
It might seem as if this type of cycling death is unusual or rare, but in fact it is not. It is the exact type of fatality that inspired the Regional Toronto coroners office to initiate an investigation of looking into a safer method of travel for cyclist on our busy roads back in 1996 after two cyclist in July of that year were killed the same way Jenna was. Top of their list to avoid such fatalities was to mandate "side guards" on large trucks. This has yet to happen in the year 2011 even with multiple cyclist deaths of this exact kind being investigated since 1996, and those are just the ones that *were*reported (more than 80% of cycling accidents go unreported). A quote from the Coroner's report reads that in 1999 Transport Canada advised their staff “Such guards are the subject of a European (UN ECE) Regulation, the purpose of which is to minimize the possibility of unprotected road users falling under the sides of vehicles and being caught under the wheels. There is no similar Canadian regulation because the nature of the traffic mix in Canada is different to that in Europe; there being a greater proportion of unprotected road users (pedestrians, cyclists and motor cyclists) in close proximity to trucks and trailers in Europe than there are in this country… Nevertheless, the situation is being monitored and if regulatory action on side guards is necessary, it will be initiated.” Yes, 1999. That was 12 years ago. 3 years after the investigation by the coroner was initiated in 1996. Not to mention that the review of the cycling-related fatalities conducted for the report dates back to 1986. That makes 22 years of blatant disregard from Canada's transport administration that side guards are necessary on large trucks to prevent cyclist fatalities. Let's read that again shall we: Transport Canada did not feel that there were enough cyclists deaths related to cyclists falling beneath large trucks (they had averaged at least 1.6 a year in their study at that point) to elicit "regulatory action on side guards" because we as a country do not have enough cyclists and pedestrians on our roads comparable to Europe. Apparently they still feel this way in 2011 even after Jenna's "accident" took not only her life, but the life of her unborn child. This tragedy and the many others that have come before in the same way is not enough to invoke the same regulations (of making side guards mandatory for large trucks) that have been saving the lives of cyclists and pedestrians in Europe since 1989. And to this point I've only been giving you the stats on cyclists’ deaths involving large trucks. The amount of cyclists’ deaths (in any form) a year in Toronto alone is overwhelming. Two weeks before Jenna's death Dr. Dan Cass, Ontario’s supervising coroner for the central region, reported that between 2006 and 2010 there were over 110 cyclist deaths, over 20 a year. All preventable in his educated opinion by making cycling safer.
In a court file from Nancy Smith Lea's affidavit in 2004 in regards to the case of Hannah Evans suing the City of Toronto (after she was "doored" by a drivers side door in 2002 on Queen Street West) section 14. reads: "The City recognizes that there are two ways to plan specifically for bicycle safety on arterial roads: either marked on-street bicycle lanes or a wide curb lane – the accepted standard for which is a minimum width of 4.0 meters." and section 35. of the affidavit reads: "In the Bike Plan, the City recognizes that “bicycles should be afforded the same consideration as motor vehicles on the City’s street system” and that “every street should be made as safe and comfortable for cyclists as possible.” The City acknowledges that to meet this goal it is necessary to adopt “bicycle friendly street policies that give bicycles the same consideration as vehicles on the City’s street system.” That Bike Plan published by the City of Toronto in June 2001 was consequently adopted by City Council but has yet to take effect. In the "bicycle/motor-vehicle collision study" conducted in 2003 by the Transportation Division it states that the initial request for an investigation by the Coroner in 1996 was because the Coroner's findings were such that he stressed that “there was a disproportionate representation of bicycles in (personal injury) traffic collisions, relative to their numbers on the road, highlighting the need for appropriate programs designed to reduce cycling-related injuries.”
Yet every single article that I've read says that it was a preventable loss. How can this be after so many years of investigations dedicated to determining how to create a safer City for cyclists? Investigations dedicated to cyclists deaths specifically related to the dangers of being clipped and pulled under a large truck. After years and years of proposed bike plans how can we still have a death such as Jenna's in 2011 when we knew better, when we knew exactly how to prevent it? I'll tell you, it's because those same bike plans are quickly shelved and collect dust. Cyclist don't buy gas.
So we read in the articles that it doesn't look like either party was actually at fault, "they were both turning in the same direction at the same time". Nobody seemed to be doing anything illegal or irresponsible.
But the truth of the matter here is that someone is at fault. Someone did do something irresponsible that caused this death. The City of Toronto is at fault. The City of Toronto disregarded the danger of that turn, disregarded the need for more bike lanes in our city and has continuously disregarded the need to implement a regulation making side guards on large trucks mandatory for at least 15 years since the Coroner's report advised a need for it in 1996 to prevent "preventable deaths".
Yes, a preventable death that was not prevented because Toronto is not safe for cyclists and hasn't been for over 20 years (at least). In fact in an open letter to the Chief Coroner of Ontario by the Toronto's Cyclist Union addresses the fact that Toronto has "the highest collision rate per capita for cyclist of any large Canadian city" and this can be verified by looking at the City of Toronto's Traffic Safety Unit (2010) Cyclist Collision Summary leaflet. And yet this City, which is acutely aware that it is poorly designed and organized for bikers and motorists to share the roads safely together still insist on advertising cycling as a form of safe, environmentally friendly and cost effective travel for Torontonians. All in an effort to, I assume, create a facade in order to not fall below the environmental standards of other popular tourists Cities. Toronto not only promotes cycling, but strongly advocates and markets it.
People may argue that the City of Toronto has been working with cyclists, for cyclists. And yes, Toronto does have a few rail trails available for bikers and many roads equipped with painted on bike lanes. But we are nowhere close to where we should be, where we said we would be in 2011. It's hard to believe that anything will change when it has stayed so stagnant for so long. And if you look at the difference between Toronto, Montreal and New York you can easily see how Toronto falls short.
I'm not a fan of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, but as far as his insensitivity to cyclists is concerned - he's just the guy that came and out said it. The City has been ignoring the importance of safer travel for cyclists for over 20 years. And although David Miller did try to make the roads safer for the ever growing cyclists population in Toronto when he was Mayor (even at the cost of being dubbed as someone waging a "war on cars") by creating bike lanes on Jarvis St - we all know how that turned out.
One step forward, five steps back.
Though the investigation into Jenna's death is still pending and nothing has been absolutely determined about the exact details of this accident as of yet it is all too obvious that this absolutely WAS a preventable death (whether the media tells us that or not). A bike lane on Sterling for one might have changed Jenna's fate, giving the truck driver more cause to look for cyclists or perhaps not take the turn as sharply. A slope in the sidewalk on either side of the curve of that corner to allow for safe entrance to the rail trail and/or a safe path off Sterling on to Dundas for bikers would certainly have saved Jenna's life in this circumstance. And of course mandatory side guards on large trucks would have avoided her getting caught underneath it and would very likely have prevented her death.
As redundant as this piece is about how preventable Jenna's death was, it's important to know that this isn't just another biker killed in a vehicle/cyclist incident. We can't let Jenna just turn into another statistic. This type of fatality was under investigation at least 15 years ago. Cyclists’ fatalities in general have been long overlooked as a serious issue with just cause for changing the safety standards of our city in relation to cyclists. The cyclist union, the coroner's office and many council members have proposed not only side guards for large trucks but paved and/or separated bike lanes. And someone, not the City, has painted three large bike stencils in the spot that Jenna died to help motorists recognize that bikes travel that same route, to make that turn safer, to make sure people remember a life was lost unnecessarily and of course to commemorate Jenna.
When will the City finally decide it's been one death to many and start adopting change that can and will save lives?
Jenna should not have died, there is no doubt. The City of Toronto is accountable and we will not soon forget that this happened or how it happened. We will not stop trying to make changes to our City's infrastructure to make those "bike plans" finally a reality by creating "bike facilities" which will make it safer for cyclists and motorists to share the road.
We must not let Jenna have died in vain.
Though I did not know Jenna well, she was a remarkable woman that left her mark on me. Always a great joy to be around. Full of life and love and positive energy, always smiling and encouraging and offering friendship. Well worth knowing and not at all worth losing.
Memorial for Jenna Morrison:
Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists will hold a memorial Ghost Ride to deliver and erect a ghost bike to the site of the accident. The ride to honour Jenna will begin on Monday November 14th at the corner of Bloor and Spadina at 7:30AM and will be traveling slowly and respectfully through city streets accompanying the ghost bike. It will conclude at the scene of the accident, at Dundas and Sterling, at 8AM.
**A trust fund has been set up in Jenna's name with the TD Bank.
For TD customers, the branch number is 0246 and the account number is 637 2358.
For non Td customers, please sent donations to transit number 02462, institution number 004, and account number 02466372358.
For those that prefer Paypal, the Paypal account is In Loving Memory of Jenna, email is in_loving_memory_of_jenna@hotmail.com.
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