Burnaby city staff will be reviewing an “extremely dangerous” bike lane after a plea for help from a cyclist who was hit on the lane last month.
Geoff Doerksen said he experienced multiple near-misses on the Gilmore multi-use path before he was hit by a van at the intersection of the Gilmore Diversion at Myrtle Street.
“The intersections and driveways that cross the Gilmore multi-use path are extremely dangerous and someone is going to get killed,” he wrote.
“I knew it was only a matter of time before I got hit by a vehicle on this route. … Drivers are extremely aggressive through this area, and some think they have the right of way regardless of stop signs or red lights.”
“Please do something so that I’m not permanently injured or killed coming home from work.”
Coun. Alison Gu agreed with Doerksen at a council meeting Sept. 25.
“I personally have almost been hit by a car multiple times along this route,” she said.
Gu said she and many other north-south Burnaby cyclists use the bike route “very frequently.”
She said the safety issues are an infrastructure problem that “cannot be solved by signs alone” and suggested the city needs to invest in physical barriers and flashing lights, such as the ones along the Lions Gate – Stanley Park bikeway.
“There are far too many left and right turns with heavy truck traffic that are causing a lot of near-misses, or in the case of the writer, a collision,” she said.
Gu directed staff to review the matter as a high priority, as the route is one of only two separated north-south cycling paths in Burnaby.
Councillors unanimously agreed, and staff will report back on possible physical infrastructure improvements for the lane.
“It is paramount that we get this right, because it really reduces the trust of cyclists in every other piece of cycling infrastructure that we put forward.” She noted work is being done on other routes that are “not as dangerous as this one.”
