Bikes vs cars: The war needs to stop, says accident victim's friend
'Stop labelling people with, if they are cars or bikes, they are humans,' says event's organizer
When Martin Bell's friend and colleague, Patricia Keenan, died while riding her bicycle, he was shocked to see the discussion revolve around whether it was the car's fault or hers.
"it was unbelievable to go through the grieving process and watch or listen to it unfold on the radio," said Bell.
On July 14, Keenan was cycling behind a friend in Kelowna, when someone suddenly opened the driver's side door of a parked car.
Keenan, 38, slammed into the door and, despite wearing a helmet, sustained serious head injuries. She died in hospital two days later.
Bell, who worked with Keenan, says people were pointing fingers at the time.
"Losing sight of the fact that this is a human. This is a person and we have lost her. She is a mom. She is a friend. She is a volunteer," he said.
Recently, the conversation resurfaced when a YouTube video emerged of a cyclist getting doored in Vancouver.
Bell wants to put an end to the finger pointing so he hosted a speaker series in Kelowna on Thursday.
It's not about cars or bikes it's about people and how we want to treat each other <a href="http://t.co/Kf0Iyerp3r">pic.twitter.com/Kf0Iyerp3r</a>
—@spirit_of_urban"Stop labelling people with, if they are cars or bikes, they are humans. Humans operate them. Go back and remember these are people we are dealing with," he said.
Bell says people increasingly are switching between different modes of transportation when they travel and need to change their attitude when it comes to sharing the road.
To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled Bike vs car: the war needs to stop on the CBC's Daybreak South