Warning: This video contains graphic content.
Toronto’s cycling community is speaking up about the urgent need for safer roads after a shocking video surfaced online of a cyclist who was recently struck by a driver.
On Wednesday, Twitter user @AlexchaeAlex posted dashcam footage of the incident between a driver and cyclist at Yonge Street and Ranleigh Avenue.
The vehicle shows a cyclist travelling north on Yonge Street, with a car driving closely behind them. Suddenly, the car is seen driving into the cyclist from behind and knocking them down to the ground.
The car proceeds to swerve to the middle of the intersection and stops. The driver then gets out of their vehicle, speaks with the cyclist, and then returns to their vehicle and drives it out of the intersection and to the side of the road. The driver is then seen exiting their vehicle to presumably speak with the cyclist.
It is unknown if there were any injuries reported or if any charges were laid. Now Toronto has reached out to Toronto police but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Several people are reacting to the video, including those who are calling on the city to implement safer infrastructure for cyclists and harsher penalties for drivers.
“Completely unsurprising. Drivers in Toronto have been emboldened by aggressive anti-cyclist media combined with police tolerance of dangerous driving in the city for years. This is what you get as a result,” Twitter user @NotSafe4BikesTO said.
“That’s truly disgusting. The driver definitely needs to be locked up and we need stricter laws and safer roads for cyclists, pedestrians etc. I hope this gets taken further and I hope the cyclist got help immediately,” Twitter user rahimladhajuma added.
Personal Injury lawyer for cyclists and injured people in Toronto Dave Shellnut, also known as the Biking Lawyer, says incidents like this should be “met with swift condemnation by TPS and our elected officials.”
“This is the road violence that cyclists deal with every single day in Toronto. It’s why the cycling community loudly shouts our frustration when we’re targeted by police, while every day motorists run rampage across the City putting all VRUs at risk,” Shellnut said in a written statement to Now Toronto on Thursday.
“We need a societal shift in thinking and laws that immediately revoke someone’s ability to drive when they are caught doing such horrific acts as what this driver has perpetrated here,” he said.
“This person should immediately lose their ability to drive, if not face criminal charges for serious crimes. We demand safe separated infrastructure, so that conflict points like this can be reduced,” he added.
Shellnut said the “horrific road violence” comes as his office continues to receive “numerous” accounts of Toronto police officers ticketing cyclists for minor infractions, like cycling on the sidewalk.
“The cycling community was dismayed at what we see as a misguided attempt to address road safety. We know where the true problem lies, dangerous motorists,” he said.
