A cyclist was killed by a driver in East Vancouver. Why it happened, and why it’ll happen again if nothing changes. 

April 18, 2024

On April 17 2024, a cyclist was killed by the driver of a Dodge Ram pickup truck in East Vancouver. People will use the word “accident” but this didn’t need to happen. A long list of policy failures got us here. 

FAILURE 1. The lack of protected east-west cycling infrastructure across the city.

This crash happened at 11th and Clark, 2 blocks south of Broadway. And don’t say 10th is better. See the map of ICBC-reported cyclist collisions below. 10th is the worst street in the entire city.

Focusing in on 10th, the intersection at Clark has the most crashes on the entire route. It’s known by anyone who rides to be extremely dangerous. If someone chooses to take 11th instead, this should be no surprise.

A quick google search pulls up multiple videos of drivers blowing through red lights at 10th and Clark, almost (or actually) hitting cyclists. We’ve all seen it first hand.

Here 2 examples from reddit:  (Example 1)  |  (Example 2)

Last year, council had the chance to approve a protected bike lane along Broadway. The majority ABC party voted no. Mayor Ken Sim told us we don’t need it because “we have a perfectly good lane on 10th.” Here are more photos of this perfect “lane.” Email Sim and tell him what you think: Ken.Sim@vancouver.ca

FAILURE 2. A lack of enforcement and deterrents. 

This is a huge one. Under Councilor Christine Boyle’s motion last year, both Clark & Broadway and Clark & 12th would have received speed and red light cameras. This would have been huge.

Drivers speed through this stretch and blow red lights ALL THE TIME. Imagine if they got 2 tickets within 3 blocks every time they sped through here, and some red light tickets too. And remember, they come with warning signs. How quickly would they start driving more safely?

But there are no cameras, because Clr Brian Montague single-handedly killed Boyle’s motion, asking the city to do more “studies” instead. It’s so clear from this map that they could have made a difference here. These policy choices KILL PEOPLE. Let him know: CLRmontague@vancouver.ca

FAILURE 3: Vehicle size and design. 

The person who killed this cyclist was driving a Dodge Ram pickup, possibly (but not definitively) the one in this photo. We know, as a fact, that these larger cars are more deadly. When will policy makers act?

This issue is in the hands of the Federal govt. Let Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez (pablo.rodriguez@parl.gc.ca)  know that enough is enough. It’s time to take action. Cars this size have no place on our roads without a commercial license. These aren’t toys, they’re killers.

FAILURE 4: No proper crash investigations. 

Yes, the police will investigate, but they look for things that individuals did wrong (was the driver intoxicated? Speeding?) This is important to know, but we never investigate the infrastructure or design that led to a death.

Countries like Sweden do in-depth studies after every fatal collision, to examine every single factor involved (not just driver errors and decisions), and recommends concrete actions to make sure that they don’t happen again at that site. And it works; Sweden’s per capita road deaths are less than half of ours in BC. 

FAILURE 5: 11th and Clark is deadly by design. 

The median and the sign here encourage cyclists to cross, but absolutely nothing is done to protect them, or to alert drivers to look out for this. This is outright negligence. Let Engineering Manager lon.laclaire@vancouver.ca know.

WHAT IF…?

There are a lot of “what ifs” here. If Broadway had protected lanes, would it move most cyclists off the far more dangerous 10th and 11th Aves? Was the driver speeding or did they run a red light, and would the fear of getting a camera ticket have prevented it? If we did proper crash investigations, would this stretch of Clark been fixed years ago? If the driver was driving a smaller vehicle, would the cyclist have survived? If 11th was a proper crossing, would this incident have not happened at all?

Realistically, the answer to a lot of these questions is probably “no.” But if just one answer was “yes”, this person would still be alive. We are so vulnerable on the road. We need layers of protection. And every single level of leadership responsible is letting us down.