There isn’t a day that goes by when Cathy Anderson isn’t reminded of the last time she was on a bicycle in 2009.
Last July, she was on a training ride on March Road with four friends, when a minivan swerved into their bike lane and ran them over.
“I was the only one conscious enough to be aware at the scene and I’ll never forget the devastation and disbelief of that day,” said Anderson at a Clean Air Day event at city hall yesterday.
The collision shattered her elbow, broke her pelvis and left her concussed. But despite her apprehension about getting on the road again, Anderson and three of the others involved in that collision are already riding again.
“It was something we had to just get over,” she said.
Being back on the bike after the ordeal has made her more cautious and more aware of how much more could be done to make roads safer.
More paved bike lanes would be a great start, along with signs encouraging drivers to share the road, she said.
One-third of local commuters travel less than five kilometres to work —- a perfect cycling distance, said Capital Ward Coun. Clive Doucet. It’s just a matter of creating a safe cycling network, he said.
Dutch Ambassador Wim Geerts offered the Netherlands as a model for creating a strong cycling commuter culture.
“Cycling is not a green, principled tree-huggers’ means of transportation,” said Geerts. “We cycle because it’s healthy, clean and cheap.”
