Two years after cyclist Mathlide Blais was involved in a fatal collision, friends, family and fellow cyclists say they want changes to the Highway Safety Code.
Blais, who was 33, died in April 2014 after she was hit by a truck while biking through an underpass on St. Denis St. at des Carrières St., near Rosemont metro station.
A ghost bike was affixed to the underpass railing during a ceremony in her memory Thursday evening, held at the place where she was hit and killed. Her loved ones say the city isn't doing enough to protect cyclists.
The coroner who investigated her death found that Blais would still be alive if the truck driver had shared the lane, either by slowing down while going through the underpass or by veering into the other lane as is permitted under the Highway Safety Code.
After her death, the city allowed cyclists to ride on the sidewalks next to the underpass on St. Denis, but memorial organizer Gabrielle Anctil said that isn't enough.
"It makes no sense, imagine 8 a.m., people are going to work, back and forth, there are people walking here... it can't be a permanent measure. The city has to think about how to make the whole space shared, not just the sidewalk," she said.
Blais's mother Geneviève Labord is disappointed the revised Highway Safety Code still has not seen the light of day.
She says she can't wait until the new code is released so everyone understands how to better share the road.
"We cannot wait until another death happens. I think it's too urgent," she sid.
Then-transport minister Robert Poëti promised to update the Highway Safety Code after Blais's death, and since then many discussions on how to make Quebec roads and streets safer have taken place. However, very little has happened to make the proposed changes a reality.
Among the proposals is a requirement for motorists to provide a least one metre of space when passing a cyclist.
