Thanks for nothin', Erin O'Melinn

Unbelievable.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/14/bc-stanley-park-causeway-bike-path.html

Read the comments……….

What a bunch of whiny cunts. Really, nothing better to do that get their panties in a knot over this?

Certainly a lot of narrow minded people, but as someone who used to ride over that bridge every day, it's certainly common sense to slow down and assume everyone around you is a complete idiot. Especially with half the extras from the Walking Dead living in the woods.

I think its weird that many of the negative posters assume she was going too fast on the shared sidewalk. A 61-year-old woman would be the last type of person I'd expect to see speed-deamoning it on a sidewalk. If she had been terrorizing pedestrians on the sidewalk at high speed, at least she would have been noticed, like Moses was when he was parting the Red Sea.

Lots of mouths spewing crap when no one knows what happened here. That sidewalk is not narrow. If a person that cycles thinks it is narrow perhaps they should not be riding. Oh I get labelled elitist because I am skilled and dislike some of the cycling lanes. You take your life into your hands on those segregated lanes which have attracted a lot of ding dongs. If a person drove a car like some cyclist drive, you would say that person shouldn't have a licence. Why is cycling on the street any different? You don't have basic riding skills, get off the road. You are too good to follow the rules, get off the road.

But we do not know how this tragedy occurred.

But we do not know how this tragedy occurred.

Yep. I'm not making any comment about any specific incident but I don't see what's so wrong about slowing down when going past pedestrians on a shared path.

i doubt this is a reactionary call for improved safety or spending money. there are a decent number of people who commute from vancouver to north/west van and vise versa by bike. i bet HUB has good numbers for this from tracking BTWW participation. calling for making the causeway (seem) more safe for cyclists is a good strategic move to help bump up these numbers. so the opportunity afforded by the (unfortunate) death of the cyclist is to push for an investment that will make cycling a more attractive commuter option. more cyclists on the road/causeway is a win for the city, overall road safety, the environment, provincial health costs, etc.

I would say the bigger issue is poor signage and lane marking rather than a narrow path. Cyclists are supposed to keep right South bound but most keep left. There are a few signs but very little other markings. Given the volume of both types of users and the number of tourists in the area (both on bike and foot) making the protocols a little clearer might help.

Widening the bike lanes are likely a non starter, no way they can take space from the road and I can't see them getting allowances to take space from the park.

Yep. I'm not making any comment about any specific incident but I don't see what's so wrong about slowing down when going past pedestrians on a shared path.

Nothing at all. It is exactly what a person should do. Like slowing when emergency vehicles have stopped at the side of the highway, or not driving at or below the speed limit in the left lean when you are not passing.

There just seems to be a knee jerk reaction to spend a lot of money putting up barricades, which will narrow that sidewalk when we do not know what happened. In my view that sidewalk is fine. I have ridden it literally thousands of times. Form 1992 until 6 months ago I commuted that way. Plus all the times that I rode for training to the North Shore from Vancouver from 1981.

A lot of the bike/car traffic issues come down this city being more crowded. The drivers out in Kits/Point Grey seem to be rather bad on the whole. I stop for a pedestrian on Broadway. Dick head after dick head pass me at full speed then numb nuts decides I am waiting for her to make a right onto Broadway and nearly hits the pedestrian who finally decides to go.

there are a decent number of people who commute from vancouver to north/west van and vise versa by bike.

2000 cyclists a day in the summer (both directions) and 3000 a day on the weekends. 1/3 that number in the winter.

2000 cyclists a day in the summer (both directions) and 3000 a day on the weekends. 1/3 that number in the winter.

That's over half a million bike trips a year. For how many years … and that's - what - the first time a cyclist (or anyone?) has been killed off the sidewalk? I think it wouldn't be unfair to classify that as a freak accident.

That's over half a million bike trips a year. For how many years … and that's - what - the first time a cyclist (or anyone?) has been killed off the sidewalk? I think it wouldn't be unfair to classify that as a freak accident.

I doubt that it is the first time someone was killed, but I can't recall any other incidents involving being thrown onto the street and being struck and killed. I do know of pedestrian bike encounters and injuries. Maybe not a freak occurrence but definitely very infrequent.

Enough peeps have been kilt over the decades on that stretch that no death should be categorized as "freak".

W/O separation barriers carnage will occur. A few meters from either side of the causeway to facilitate separation of cyclists from pedestrians with a rail to keep bodies off the roadway ain't too much to ask of the parks board IMO.

I think it wouldn't be unfair to classify that as a freak accident.

irrelevant. matt's numbers (source?) illustrate how popular that route is for commuters and rec. cyclists. if putting up railings makes it (seem) safer and more viable, encouraging more people to commute by bike from north van to dt or vise versa, its a sound investment by the city

for years engineers and raw safety numbers dominated bicycle infrastructure decisions in vancouver and cities across north america. ridership stayed low and growth in modeshare was non-existent. the new approach is, to quote jalen rose, to "give the people what they want!" it may not be what they "need," but it's what they need to get riding