Winnipeg cyclists call for better road safety after teen hit in Old Tuxedo

Cyclists were seen blocking off an area at Wellington Crescent and Academy Road on Tuesday, after a teenage girl was struck by a driver Monday evening at the intersection.

“She was in a lot of pain, her leg, but she was alert,” said Mark Hildhal.

Hildhal was travelling in the area when he saw the young cyclist face down on the ground, and helped her.

“It was a very disturbing scene. I stopped the car, blocked traffic. I have a little bit of medical knowledge, I have paramedic training, and I worked as a lifeguard for the city, so I grabbed her cervical spine to make sure she wasn’t moving her head at all,” he explained.

Police say the collision occurred around 8:45 p.m. Monday when a driver struck the girl who was cycling in the area with her parent. She was later transported to hospital.

“The entire intersection is designed for just one thing only and that’s just cars. There’s nothing to help pedestrians. The slip lanes are extremely dangerous, the high speeds are extremely dangerous,” said Hindhal.

The collision comes after Rob Jenner, another cyclist, was killed in the area of Wellington Crescent and Cockburn Avenue in June. A memorial ghost bike has been installed at the intersection in his honour.

“Just the volume of people cycling through here. There’s been collisions and crashes, people are getting hurt, people are getting killed,” said Mark Cohoe, the executive director of Bike Winnipeg. “We need to make that in our highest tier of priorities. At the way we are funding things, we are never going to be at the level we need to be.”

Cyclists are calling on the city to improve Winnipeg’s infrastructure to make it safer to cycle around the city.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham says while he does not know the specific details surrounding the collision, he did say the city is looking at ways to make cycling safer.

“We are looking at road safety within the City of Winnipeg’s budget. We’ve put money into road safety,” said Gillingham.

Winnipeg police say the young cyclist has been released from hospital and is expected to be OK.

The driver of the vehicle did remain on scene but also had to be transported to hospital because police say they were experiencing a medical event of their own. Police say they are continuing to investigate the collision.