Winnipeg cyclist says city needs to invest in safer infrastructure after witnessing a collision
Mark Hildahl, an avid cyclist, said his heart sank when he witnessed a teenage girl get hit by a vehicle, while biking with her father in the Crescentwood area of Winnipeg on Monday evening.
The girl, who was taken to the hospital, is in stable condition and the police are investigating the incident.
Hildahl, who has paramedic training, was one of the first people to help the girl at the scene on Wellington Crescent and Academy Road. He was driving in the area and estimates that he arrived about 30 seconds after the accident happened. Hildahl used his vehicle to block traffic before getting out to help.
“I was probably with her for five minutes before the ambulance showed up,” he said. “Her father was with her. He was very calm, which was very helpful.”
Hildahl said the girl was alert and talking as he helped keep her head still before paramedics and firefighters arrived. She was complaining about pain in her lower body, he said.
Her father said she had the right-of-way when the car hit her, Hildahl said, adding the driver was very upset and shaken up at the scene.
The girl will be OK, a Winnipeg police spokesperson said in an email on Tuesday.
The collision happened around 8.45 p.m. and the driver, who “had a medical event of their own” stayed at the scene, the police said.
Hildahl said a nurse told him the driver went into shock, had a seizure and was taken to hospital by an ambulance.
Police said there is no information regarding the driver’s condition.
Meanwhile, the Critical Mass Winnipeg cycling group is holding a bike safety rally, which started at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, at the northwest corner of Academy Road and Wellington Crescent.
A post on the group’s social media on Tuesday morning said: “If the city won’t stop this, we’ll stop traffic.”
Hildahl, who works as an educational assistant in the Louis Riel School Division, said he cycles through that intersection during his commute to work.
“It’s where I’m the most nervous,” he said. “It’s where I’m the most hyper-aware. I’ve seen cars run red lights.”
He said the stretch of bike lanes from Osborne Village to Academy Road is “treacherous” and has no cycling infrastructure.
He would like the City of Winnipeg to have a 30 kilometre an hour residential speed limit and to have to infrastructure that separates vehicles and bikes on the road, and curb extensions that could make it safer for pedestrians.
“We can’t just build a city where 95 per cent of our investment just goes into roads and cars,” Hildahl said.
“Clearly, we’re not being progressive, but you know we’re not even playing catch up with other cities,” he said, referring to Vancouver and Montreal.
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