Mother of teen killed in Saanich crosswalk helps cyclist struck by vehicle at the same spot, 2 months later

Lying on the ground after a collision with a truck, cyclist Paul O'Callaghan started talking to a witness who came to help.

What he didn't know was he was speaking to the mother of a teenager who had been killed in the same spot exactly two months earlier.

"She's got tears in her eyes, and the first thing I say to her is, 'Why are you crying?'" O'Callaghan recalled.

That's when Crystal Bourque told him about her son, a 16-year-old who lost his life while crossing the marked intersection just outside their home.

An 'emotional moment'

Kaydence Bourque was on his way to his part-time job just before 10 p.m. PT on Dec. 6, 2021 when he was struck by a vehicle while crossing a marked crosswalk on Cedar Hill Cross Road. The Saanich, B.C., teen died in hospital two days later.

His death prompted calls for improved road safety in the neighbourhood, including reducing the speed limit, an issue O'Callaghan says he was familiar with.

An experienced cyclist, O'Callaghan passed a makeshift memorial to Kaydence that had been put up by friends and family along his route to work.

He was riding near that spot just after 2 p.m. PT on Feb. 7 when he was hit by a trailer being towed by a truck, catapulting him into the air.

Several witnesses came to his aid, including a woman who took his hand and started rubbing his forehead.

O'Callaghan says discovering she was the mother of the boy who'd been killed was an "emotional moment" for him.

"To see someone like that who has gone through so much suffering, and who is still going through it because it's so fresh in her mind," he said.

Bourque posted about the incident on social media.

"He was saying this street is so bad and there was a young boy who died," she wrote. "I told him with tears running down my face that was my son."

She says O'Callaghan moved to comfort her but she told him not to move.

"I was just [happy] he was awake and talking to me," she wrote. "I stayed there and held his hand."

Renewed calls for change

Traffic safety in the Vancouver Island district municipality has become an issue in the upcoming municipal election, with several current and potential municipal leaders pushing for change.

Saanich councillor Rebecca Merserau has led the charge, putting forward a motion asking staff to speed up implementation of the city's active transportation plan from a 30-year timeline to 15.

"This incident  is a reminder that there is a huge risk in waiting so long to bring that change in place," she said.

But cycling-advocacy group Capital Bike says that's still too long a wait.

Spokesperson Corey Burger says his group is calling for a law mandating drivers to give cyclists a minimum clearance when passing. Where the road is too narrow to pass safely, the Motor Vehicle Act should give cyclists the right to take the full lane, he added. 

CBC requested comment from B.C's Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming, but has not yet received it.

In the meantime, O'Callaghan says cyclists are at mercy of the traffic and he's not sure when he'll feel safe getting back on the road.

"I'm worried about the mental impact," he said. "You hear about flashbacks, PTSD. I don't know how it will be."