Witnessed Car-Bicycle Crash, 2017 Oct 20, Toronto, Canada

Car bicycle crash in Scarborough, Toronto, Canada 2017 Oct 20 11:40am. The driver of the minivan did stop at the red light but did not look for pedestrians or cyclists, and hit an old Chinese lady on a bicycle.

Car bicycle crash in Scarborough, Toronto, Canada 2017 Oct 20 11:40am. The driver of the minivan did stop at the red light but did not look for pedestrians or cyclists, and hit an old Chinese lady on a bicycle.

Today was not a good day for the old lady cyclist in front of me. She trusted that the right-turning driver of the minivan would wait for her to cross, and he hit her, 2017 Oct 20, 11:40am, Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While it might have been unintentional, thankfully the crash was very low speed, the car driver stopped, and no one was hurt. While I believe the car driver was at fault, we all need to pay much more attention, especially when vehicles are concerned. That old lady could have been a mother and baby in stroller.

Crash Incident Description
We were on the south-west corner of Huntingwood Avenue and Warden Avenue. The old lady cyclist, est 70 yo, riding an old yellow 20″ bicycle was heading north. I had followed her from the Chinese grocery store Da Zhonghua at Warden/Sheppard. She was a stable and safe rider and did not ride very fast. She wore no helmet and was getting a bald spot on the crown of her head. At Huntingwood, North/South Warden had a green light. But a grey minivan, pulling an empty green open trailer, eastbound on Huntingwood but wanting to turn south on Warden, was blocking the complete pedestrian walkway and 2′ in front of the line markings. The grey minivan, old white male driver, had a red light and was intent on watching southbound traffic. As I watched the driver’s head it was clear that he never once looked southbound to see if there were any pedestrians or cyclists.

What To Do if a Car Driver Does Not Acknowledge You
Now at this juncture is where I would diverge from niceties and etiquette. While crossing roads as a pedestrian or cyclist, I watch driver’s heads and gauge their center of attention. Did they see me, are they looking before they make the turn? I not only want to see that their head is turned to my direction, but also that they acknowledge that I am or will be in front of their car.

If I do not completely confirm that the driver acknowledges my attention, I do not go further. Rather I usually shout very loudly and sharply a “Hey” to the driver, which always gets their attention. This is pretty much the only time I will shout in public. I do acknowledge that this breaks with social etiquette, but is preferable to me than being run over by a car. Often the driver is so surprised that someone is so close to the front of their car that they can run them over. Most drivers acknowledge their error and all is well. I often tell them to pay attention to pedestrians and cyclists crossing in front of their cars. Many times, however they get mad, which is fine with me as long as they did eventually stop and did not run me over. In the name of safety I would rather break with social etiquette rather than have a car hurt me.

Car bicycle crash in Scarborough, Toronto, Canada 2017 Oct 20 11:40am. The driver of the minivan did stop at the red light but did not look for pedestrians or cyclists, and hit an old Chinese lady on a bicycle.

Car bicycle crash in Scarborough, Toronto, Canada 2017 Oct 20 11:40am. The driver of the minivan did stop at the red light but did not look for pedestrians or cyclists, and hit an old Chinese lady on a bicycle.

The Crash
Today, the old Chinese lady did not acknowledge that the driver knew she was there. She was fast enough to hop on her bike and ride in front of the car, fast enough that I could not stop her, and that my yelling at the driver was 3′ too late. While the driver did stop at the red light because of oncoming traffic, he did hit the old lady with his car, which knocked her off her bicycle onto the ground. She did not hit her head. Her two bags were knocked off her bicycle.

The driver got out of his car to see if the lady was Ok. The lady got up and was somewhat bewildered and a bit cross. She spoke no English, but I could understand her Chinese.

I had words with the driver, telling him that I saw that he did not once turn his head to watch for pedestrians or cyclists, that the old lady could have been a mother and child. He acknowledged that he was at fault. I asked him that in the future he should look both ways and pay more attention to both directions.

The old lady was unhurt but bewildered. She complained that she had a green light and the car blocked the pedestrian way. I told her that she was right, but what is the use if she was hurt and had to go to the hospital. There is no point in being legally correct but pay the price for someone else’s mistake. I helped her strap her bags back on her bike, she was fine, thanked me and I was on my way.

Why Did the Driver Not Look?
We are human. Humans are habitual. The driver might have been in a rush. Of course he did not want to crash into oncoming southbound traffic, as that would have put him and his car in physical danger. On the other hand, pedestrian or bicycle traffic going northbound presents no physical danger to him or his vehicle. While he might have just been careless, he could have experienced what is called “Inattentional Blindness”, where the driver literally sees right through you. In this case the driver did not even turn his head to the right to scan for pedestrians or cyclists. This is simply sloppy and dangerous driving.

Inattentional blindness, also known as perceptual blindness, is a psychological lack of attention that is not associated with any vision defects or deficits. It may be further defined as the event in which an individual fails to perceive an unexpected stimulus that is in plain sight.

source: Wikipedia

The Result
The old Chinese lady was ok. Her head did not hit the ground. She was otherwise physically unharmed. No harm done. The driver got back into his car and drove off. All turned out Ok. It could have been much worse, but it was a preventable crash that should not have happened. Both the driver and cyclist could have prevented this crash. I hope that both the driver and cyclist learned something today and that they will be more careful in the future.

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