Female cyclist, 24, dead after being hit by dump truck in Yorkville

A female cyclist is dead after she was hit by a dump truck in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood.

Toronto police say around 8:30 a.m. Thursday a cyclist was travelling westbound in the bike lane on Bloor Street near Avenue Road when she exited the lane and merged into a live traffic lane and continued westbound. At the same time a dump truck, also travelling westbound, struck the cyclist.

The cyclist – a 24-year-old woman – was pronounced dead on scene. She was riding one of the city’s bike rentals. Police say the 39-year-old male driver remained at the scene.

While there is no confirmation as to why she exited the bike lane, there is some construction happening in the area and a large bin blocking the lane could have caused her to change direction into a live traffic lane. The bin has since been removed.

David Shellnutt, known as the Biking Lawyer, said he was “absolutely gutted” to hear of the woman’s death while cycling along Bloor, saying it’s an unsafe area that needs immediate action.

Back in April, Ali Sezgin Armagan was struck and killed while riding his e-bike on Avenue Road, not far from Thursday morning’s tragedy, after the driver of a flatbed truck hit the 39-year-old courier while turning left into a loading dock.

Shellnut, who represents Armagan’s family, is among the many advocates urging the city to implement changes to make the area safer for those on two wheels.

“Right now we’ve had five people on bikes killed this year. It’s more than we’ve had in any other single year. The year’s not over yet and it really is an urgent wake-up call that we need to be doing more,” said Michael Longfield, the executive director of Cycle Toronto.

“Toronto’s made a lot of progress in accelerating its cycling network …but if they’re blocked because of construction, because of parked cars, it’s not just an inconvenience, it’s really putting people’s lives at risk,” he said.

Shellnut also called out Coun. Brad Bradford, accusing him of slowing down road safety measures on Avenue Road. Bradford had brought a motion to monitor the impact of bike lanes on traffic congestion on the busy roadway but he has since withdrawn that motion.