DYING TO BE HEARD
Cycling advocates hold a ‘die-in’ at Parc Ave. and St-Viateur St. on Saturday, calling for higher awareness of cyclist safety after one died recently on Mount Royal.
In the wake of another cyclist dying on Montreal’s streets and amid the continuing municipal election, cycling advocates hosted a “die-in” demonstration Saturday to raise awareness for cyclist safety.
The event, which involved people lying down on the pavement beside their bikes while organizers outlined their bodies with chalk, has been used around the world to draw attention to cycling safety. Saturday’s demonstration was held at the corner of Parc Ave. and St-Viateur St. in Montreal.
“It’s a symbolic spot,” said Gabrielle Anctil, a spokesperson for Ghost Bike Montreal, which organized the event. “It’s a site where we set up a ghost bike four years ago. And since then, very little has changed.”
Ghost bikes are painted white bicycles that have been erected around the city to honour cyclists where they died in road accidents. In Montreal, eight bikes have been erected in the last four years.
The latest was installed for Clément Ouimet, an 18-year-old competitive cyclist who struck a vehicle making an illegal U-turn on Camillien-Houde Way on Mount Royal. He died later that day.
Saturday’s “die-in” followed an organized bike ride near where Ouimet died.
With a municipal election campaign underway, Ouimet’s death sparked a debate on road safety issues in the city.
“With the election, we want to say ‘hey, we’re here, you need to think about us. And whoever gets elected, we’re going to be there for the next four years and we’re going to hold you accountable,’ ” Anctil said.
“We always appear after someone has died, and that’s too late,” she added.
“We don’t want to be setting up ghost bikes. We want to be preventing people from being hit and dying.”