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According to police, the cyclist and the 50-year-old driver of the cement truck were both using the northbound curb lane on Avenue Road just north of Bloor when the collision happened.Heavy trucks have been involved in several fatal collisions in recent years. A Star analysis of 15 years’ worth of data from 2006 to 2020 shows dump or cement trucks were involved in 11 per cent of all pedestrian deaths and more than a quarter of all cyclist deaths.

The teen’s death is the 26th fatal traffic collision in Toronto this year, 12 of which include pedestrians and cyclists. Of those, three involved cement trucks.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/202...vy-trucks.html

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While the exact circumstances that led to the teen’s death are not clear, Layton said there continues to be “a sort of unsafe culture” of car and truck drivers not keeping enough distance from cyclists when passing them. It’s also a common occurrence for delivery or cement truck drivers to park into cycling lanes or mount the curbs and drive along, sometimes at high speeds, he said.

“We’ve gotten there because, I believe, there’s an enforcement issue as well,” said Layton, himself a regular cyclist. He added: “Unless we’re enforcing laws like the one-metre passing rule, who is going to follow it? If we had assurance that you’re going to get a ticket if you park in a bike lane, you better believe people are going to stop parking in bike lanes.”

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Darth Lefty 

I wonder how joeyduck has been lately

prairiepedaler

It is a real shame to see that. I can't begin to imagine the damage the truck driver would have caused if he didn't have a drivers license.

Daniel4

"Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Mayor John Tory emphasized the preventable nature of these tragic incidents, and touted the city’s ongoing Vision Zero program as having contributed to the reduction of deaths on Toronto streets."

If you randomly ask drivers what Vision Zero is, I bet the majority wouldn't know.

The only thing that can be attributed to the reduction in road fatalities in 2020 is the low number of cars on the road that year due to Covid-19 lockdowns. Otherwise, the road deaths between 2013 to 2019 hadn't changed that much at 63 per year.

GamblerGORD53

RIP. Didn't need to happen for sure. The 2020 view shows a bike lane ending right at this block. I would sure be headed for the sidewalk at that time and in the presence of any truck. So the question is how the merge to the lane happened?? This was the first 70 feet or so of the block. And the road goes back to 3 lanes only a couple blocks north.
I rode down there one of my 4 days in T-O in 2019. At least half of my miles were on sidewalks.

Daniel4

I went to visit the site yesterday. There are protected bike lane on all the major surrounding streets: Bloor, University, and Davenport. But none on Avenue Road.

Take a look at Google Maps, Cycling layer. This area is like a big void of bike lanes. The connectivity is missing.

Cyclaholic

i have a couple of questions to throw into the mix... Is this happening because cement truck drivers are set in their ways? ...or just are they being cast in a bad light?

Daniel4

Community wants to re-design the street but can't get tge City's attention. So they're taking the initiative.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...road-1.6168785

Rick

There is not enough info to know how this accident could have been avoided.

OldRailfan

While still living in Ontario I had a rule for rides on regular roads: take up 1/3 of the lane. Served me well and certainly got the attention of drivers. BTW my rule is still valid out here in BC with the little modification of "use half the lane" when descending on our hills. I like those long downhills with up to 13+%!
Letting her rip at 60+ km/h is great fun.