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A group of cyclists blocked off Wellington Crescent on Friday calling for safer streets for bikes at the site of a hit-and-run death of a 61-year-old cyclist on Thursday morning.
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“They city is doing things (for bicycle safety) but it’s too slow,” said bike advocate Patty Wiens, one of over 120 cyclists who took part in the protest which shut down the road except for buses and emergency vehicles. “I was just saying to someone that we need to do something faster before somebody dies. And now somebody died.”
Winnipeg Police said in a news release Thursday that the cyclist was headed east on Wellington near Cockburn Street North when he was struck by a vehicle headed the same direction. The vehicle – a white BMW – was recovered.
The man was rushed to hospital in critical condition and died in hospital.
“This is a grassroots movement to bring attention to the city of how many of us there are and how we would like our voice to be heard because we don’t feel like we get priority in our safety,” said Wiens, the self-described Bicycle Mayor of Winnipeg.
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“We don’t have enough bike infrastructure. Our bike network is not connected and so we feel like second-class citizens. Even though there is a lot of work being done, it’s not being done fast enough. We’re always told there isn’t enough money and there’s a finite amount of money but we keep widening the roads and fixing potholes and creating more roads, more problems that are going to have to be fixed later.
“We just keep creating more problems that will have to get fixed later instead of giving us safety.”
Police said the investigation by members of the Traffic Division determined that the white BMW was being driven at a high rate of speed when it struck the cyclist, causing fatal injuries.
A 19-year-old driver has been charged with dangerous driving causing death and failing to stop at the scene of where fatal injuries had been caused.
He was detained in custody.
glen.dawkins@kleinmedia.ca
X: @SunGlenDawkins
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