‘Lucky he was not killed’: Video shows cyclist slamming into turning truck in downtown Toronto

August 8, 2024 Canuck

New video footage has been released showing a cyclist slamming into the side of a flat-bed truck after its driver appears to cut him off while making a right-hand turn in Toronto’s west end last month.

The surveillance footage, provided to CP24, shows a collision that occurred at the intersection of Bloor and Dufferin streets at approximately 10 a.m. on July 25.

In the footage, the cyclist is seen travelling eastbound in the Bloor Street bike lane.

As the cyclist approaches the intersection a large flatbed truck pulls up alongside him and makes a right-hand turn.

The footage then shows the cyclist slamming into the side of the truck and falling to the ground.

Police tell CP24 that the cyclist was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Police say that the driver remained on scene and was subsequently charged under the Highway Traffic Act with disobeying a sign that prohibited right-hand turns at the intersection.

“He is lucky he was not killed,” lawyer Dave Shellnutt, who is representing the cyclist, told CTV News Toronto on Thursday. “We are still getting some diagnostics on the injuries but I can say from a trauma perspective he is very shaken up by this. He knows just how close he was to death.”

Shellnutt pointed out that the collision happened on the very same day that a 25-year-old cyclist was struck and killed by a truck nearby on Bloor Street near Avenue Road.

He said that the footage made him “scream” when he first saw it because it was so “shocking.”

It also underscores the need for a physical barrier that would protect cyclists as they approach the intersection, he said.

“Our friends at Cycle Toronto have said we are in a crisis and we fully agree. We represent people injured on their bikes and the amount of calls we get everyday is shocking,” Shellnutt said. “Cities, municipalities and the provincial government need to take all manner of steps to get safe protective intersections and bike lanes to encourage safe cycling and we need tough vulnerable road user legislation that penalizes people if you kill or injure someone behind the wheel.”

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