Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

For half a decade, I took the first 7 of the morning up to Conestoga Mall. I know the off-ramp where this happened quite well. Your visual line swoops to show you everything that could possibly come up behind you, before straightening you out and (should) with the curve, slow you down. Even that first 7 of the morning, arriving at the mall before 6am, there were always several people getting off at that very off-ramp, to cross the street to their work. So even at that time of day, not only are there cars there, but also pedestrians and others, and awareness of others on the road for an area with no hiding places, no bushes to bound out of. I would totally blame a driver for killing someone if they couldn't stop soon enough while speeding through snow or fog that meant they couldn't stop safely, and I'll similarly call them out for killing a cyclist if they didn't like that the cyclist was dark, in a world where Daytime Running Lights on cars mean they often have zero lights on their backside either.

Also, we don't even know if the cyclist had lights.  Even the defence attorney did not claim so.