'Ghost ride' held for killed cyclist
MP Chow calls for rules that require side guards on trucks
Toronto's cycling community, friends and family held a memorial ride on Monday morning in honour Jenna Morrison, the 38-year-old mother who was killed after she was hit by a truck while riding her bike last week.
Hundreds of cyclists rode through the city before stopping at the spot she was killed at the corner of Sterling Road and Dundas Street West.
Once there, they held a moment of silence.
CBC’s Colin Butler reported Monday that riders called the memorial a "ghost ride," meant to pay tribute to Morrison's life.
After the riders arrived at the spot where Morrison died, they added to a makeshift memorial there, underneath a sign that marks the start of the West Toronto Railpath.
"There’s flowers, people have dropped off notes … as well as her picture," Butler reported.
Cyclists also placed locked a ghost bike to a sign near the intersection. Such bikes are spray-painted white to mark spots where cyclists have died and to raise awareness about cycling safety.
Morrison was five months pregnant and on her way to picking up her five year old son when she was killed.
She was making a right turn onto Dundas West from Sterling when she ended up beneath the wheels of a truck making the same turn.
Cyclist Lianne Pepper did not know Morrison but said her death has left a mark on Toronto's cycling community.
"It is very sad," Pepper told CBC News. "It’s senseless and it could have been prevented."
MP Chow issues call for truck side guards
Morrison’s death has triggered calls from Toronto MP Olivia Chow for new laws that would require trucks to add side guards — barriers installed on the side of trucks to prevent people from being crushed beneath them in the event of a collision while turning.
Chow said if trucks install side guards, deaths such as Morrison’s may be prevented.
Late Monday Toronto police said the driver of a truck involved in the collision will not be charged.
Police say an extensive investigation concluded that the 55-year-old truck driver did nothing illegal.