It is a bit of a 21st century thing~when a city hall staffer looks like they had been in a bar fight it usually is the result of a bike crash.. But it was extremely troubling news when the City of Vancouver’s transportation manager Dale Bracewell who was cycling to work from the north shore took the full brunt of road rage from a driver who sped off after knocking Dale off his bike.
Dale Bracewell is simply a nice guy and his kids’ dad as well as doing a lot of work advocating for safer streets for cyclists in Vancouver. Dale took to Twitter on Thursday morning stating
“Today this was so real as an aggressive driver knocked me over while I was biking to work,I’m in the hospital right now getting x-rays. I still am in shock that a driver did something like this. Thanks to all who cared for me after the car knocked me over.”
Dale also did the right thing by not describing what happened but contacting the Vancouver Police Department and ICBC ( Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) to immediately follow-up. And that driver who left the scene after knocking Dale off his bicycle is responsible for Dale’s fractured elbow.
Dale is an enthusiastic cyclist and bikes the talk about Vancouver’s transportation policies. There has been an outpouring of support for Dale’s quick recovery and quite frankly that motorist who deliberately crashed into Dale is hauling around a lot of negative karma. While this incident is indeed unfortunate it does advance the conversation about the importance of correctly barricaded and separated cycling lanes, advancing good driver education and encouraging heavy penalties for drivers who crash into cyclists.
On behalf of the editors in Price Tags, we wish Dale a speedy recovery and many correctly separated bike lanes in his cycling future.
Image: Dnproulx & Citybuzz
I do hope that the driver has been caught and charges laid. This sunny weather is persuading more of us to get on a bicycle to commute and this case should be amplified once there is clarity about the driver’s “apparent rage” and “intentions”. All drivers and cyclists and the public want to learn from this incident. And please hope the cyclist can recover well soon.
Will send Dale a note. Hopefully there are some video cameras that have caught the criminal assailant. Intentional assault with a weapon/ attempted murder is a serious crime.