A bicycle courier lost his life on a Toronto street the other night and I have to admit I wasn't the least bit surpised when I heard the news. If anyone has driven in downtown Toronto, the sight of bicycle couriers tearassing and weaving through traffic is a terrifying sight. It seems they feel there are no laws prohibiting their passage.
I don't know the specifics of this poor young man's death but my heart also goes out to the driver of the car which hit him. It's something he'll have to live with for the rest of his life and only a trial will clear up his guilt or innocence in the matter.
I can only imagine that bicycle couriers are paid by the trip as they scurry heedlessly and weaving wildly around bumper to bumper traffic and it's amazing to me that more aren't killed every day. It's one tough way to earn a living and no-one would sail through automobile traffic on a bike in this dangerous way if time were not a factor.
We're having an issue in my city about installing bicycle lanes and I do think they're a good idea if not placed on the major roads. Regardless, bicyclists need to start abiding by the rules of the road if they want to survive. Cops need to start fining them when they're seen breaking the laws, too. The worst offenders, by far, are not children but adults who should know better.
The Toronto courier was a young man who ended up losing his life like so many other bicyclists who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, betting their fragile human body has much of a chance if hit by a car. There's no winning that contest.
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