Police lay charge in teacher’s cycling death
Man facing one count of careless driving
A 55-year-old Hamilton real estate agent has been charged with careless driving in a fatal collision that killed Prince of Wales kindergarten teacher Jay Keddy.
“Knowing a driver has been charged doesn’t make me happy,” said Hamilton transportation advocate Ryan McGreal. “It’s just a reminder … it could have been prevented.”
Keddy, 53, died Dec. 2, 2015, after he was struck by a dark-coloured truck while cycling on the upbound lanes of the Claremont Access.
An investigation at the time of the accident led police to an address on the west Mountain where the truck involved in the collision was seized. A 55year-old person of interest was taken into police custody for questioning and later released unconditionally.
Guy McPhee was charged Friday and will appear in court March 30.
“There is nothing I have to say,” he said when contacted by The Spectator.
Keddy regularly cycled to school from his central Mountain home. He’d stayed late at the Melrose Avenue North elementary school that day to cheer on the senior girls’ volleyball team as they played in the city championship for the first time. He was killed just before 6 p.m.
“It would be worse if the driver wasn’t charged because people have to be held responsible for their actions,” said McGreal. “The real lesson is do we want to have people die and others get charged or do we want to prevent it in the first place?”
Police spokesperson Const. Steve Welton would not give any details on why the investigation took more than two months or how the charge of careless driving came to be.
Under the Highway Traffic Act, the charge is described as driving “without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway.”
If convicted, McPhee faces a fine of between $400 and $2,000 and possibly a licence suspension of up to two years. He could also go to jail for up to six months.
“It’s a real tragedy,” said McGreal, who described Keddy’s death as “resonating” with the cycling community.
“He lived on the Mountain, he’s a kindergarten teacher and he was riding home from work. It blows up all the stereotypes of who rides.”
Described by the school’s principal as “very student-centred,” Keddy ran the school choir. He was married to Ingrid, an office administrator at another Hamilton school.
The couple had three grown children. They were former missionaries who did work in Africa and were active at West Highland Baptist Church.
Within days of Keddy’s death, city councillors asked for a staff report looking at the creation of cycling lanes on the Claremont Access. The report to the general issues committee will take until 2017.
“Telling people to be more careful doesn’t work,” said McGreal who wants to see physical barriers between cars and bikes. “We’re all human. We all get distracted. We get careless. We get tired. Instead of having a system that is unforgiving, we should design a system that acknowledges we are human … so when someone makes a mistake someone else doesn’t have to die as a result.”
Telling people to be more careful doesn’t work
RYAN MCGREAL
TRANSPORTATION ADVOCATE