Cyclist killed in west-end collision

OTTAWA — A 53-year-old male cyclist pleaded for help before he died from injuries suffered in a collision with a black Chevrolet Tracker in the city’s west side around 7 a.m. Friday morning.

It emerged later Friday that the driver of the SUV, Aldenia Orchard, 39, currently has a G1 class license which lets her drive only when accompanied by a fully licensed driver with four years experience, and was enrolled in the Young Drivers of Canada program.

Questions are also being raised about the NCC bike path in this part of the city. The NCC closed about two kilometres from just east of Carling Avenue to Britannia Park on July 14. The rehabilitation is expected to last until the end of September and the work is forcing cyclists onto city streets and closer to cars.

Friday morning, a passenger in the SUV, Gloria Cincoleon, stood outside her friend’s Tracker and looked down at the man pinned under the vehicle. He was lying on his stomach and turned his head toward Cincoleon.

“He said ‘Help me.’ I touched his shoulder and said, ‘God will help you.’”

The man tried to move a little, but soon turned to Cincoleon and asked for help again.

“I touched his head and saw some blood, but said ‘God will help you, 911 is coming,’” said Cincoleon, adding that the man, whose name police have not yet released, was wearing a helmet.

The Tracker, travelling west on Walter Street, was turning right onto Boyce Avenue when the accident happened, said Ottawa police Const. Alain Boucher.

The cyclist was heading north on Boyce Street and collided with the passenger side of the Tracker, Boucher said.

Fire crews used air bags to raise the vehicle so they could free the man. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

The driver was traumatized by the accident, and was being treated in hospital, according to her husband.

Terry Orchard said his wife was on her way home from a 20-minute driving session with Cincoleon in preparation for the G2 driver’s licence test. She was within seconds of reaching her home, which is also on Boyce Avenue.

Aldenia Orchard is a part-time personal care worker at The Ravines retirement home. She is originally from the Philippines and never needed to drive when she worked as a nanny in Hong Kong or, later, when she lived in Montreal, her husband explained.

“She wanted to be as best prepared as possible, she’s very conscientious,” said Orchard, a Statistics Canada employee and pastor of Britannia Baptist Church.

The couple founded the church last fall, he said, adding that members of the church visited their home throughout the morning and prayed for both Aldenia and the cyclist.

“Our faith was a key factor in providing that strength at a time like this,” he said. “That support group and her faith in God are the bedrock of stability.”

According to the city’s 2008 Annual Collision Report, 91 of 292 drivers involved in collisions with cyclists were turning right at the time. Of 96 drivers charged in collisions, 34 were turning right.

“Either the motorist misjudges the speed of the cyclist or doesn’t look,” said Peter Sloan, treasurer of Citizens for Safe Cycling.

Boyce Avenue resident Anna Nagy said she is surprised the accident happened on the very quiet dead-end street.

However, Les Buckley, another Boyce resident, said there has been a recent influx of cyclists who are avoiding construction on the bike path that runs past the end of the street beside the Ottawa River.

Orchard said many cyclists are now riding instead on the residential streets through the Britannia area.

“Some of them are going as fast as they would on the bike paths,” he said.

The City of Ottawa has provided cyclists with a detour that runs through some of these side roads, including along Walter Street, past Boyce Avenue.

“It should be safe, because it’s a residential area,” said Ruth Tremblay, president of the Crystal Beach Lakeview Community Association, which had worked to have a detour set up.

“It’s hard to know why (the accident) occurred,” Tremblay said.

The intersection was closed off all morning with yellow tape and orange pylons marked the spot where the cyclist went down.

Boucher said the investigation will continue and he does not know at this point whether or not charges will be laid.

With files from Glen McGregor