A cyclist posted a video on Twitter that shows he was hit by a vehicle on a downtown Edmonton bike lane Friday.
The video shows Bashir Mohamed biking through an intersection when a vehicle appears to blow through the stop sign, hitting him.
“I had the right of way, so I assumed I could keep going and the car would stop,” he told CTV News. “If anything, I guess this shows, for cyclists, that even though you are in a protected bike lane, you still have to keep your eye out.”
Mohamed was bruised and shaken up, but said he is okay.
The collision happened a day before the one-year anniversary of the downtown bike network’s opening. Ward 1 councillor Andrew Knack is not surprised a vehicle hit a cyclist on a bike lane.
“As someone who uses that route every day myself, it doesn’t shock me,” he said. “There are still, I would say, two or three times a week that I have close calls.”
Knack still considers bike lanes a success, despite this crash and other near misses.
“I think it’s been far more positive than negative. We’ve seen ridership go up significantly.”
Cameras that have been tracking the amount of riders revealed nearly 4,500 cyclists used bike lanes on May 2.
Mohamed thinks more driver education would reduce collisions.
“I think the reason why I was hit was because the driver wasn’t fully accustomed to the bike lanes and what rights the bikes actually have on the road.”
With files from Nicole Weisberg
