Suggesting ‘cyclists are victims of their own misfortune’ is unacceptable

Toronto critical injury lawyer Patrick Brown is admonishing police for what he calls a continued pattern of blaming cyclists and pedestrians for collisions, he tells Metro News.

Brown, partner with McLeish Orlando LLP and founder of Bike Law Canada, tells the newspaper it was unacceptable when a Toronto police officer told media a 71-year-old cyclist who died after a collision was travelling at high speed and did not “approach the area with enough care.”

The officer later apologized on Twitter.

“It sends the wrong message to the driving public,” Brown tells Metro. “It’s that old Rob Ford culture of saying, ‘If you swim with sharks you’re going to get bit.’ It suggests cyclists are the victims of their own misfortune.”

Had right of way

As the article notes, under Ontario law, the victim, who was riding in the right-hand lane next to parked cars, had the right of way.

Brown tells Metro he sees a “pattern” of police laying blame at the hands of pedestrians and cyclists only to have their findings overturned.

“When they put the blinders on and look at cyclists first and cars second, there’s a tendency to see that reflected in the investigation and who gets charged,” he says. “That needs to change.”

Brown is urging police to release a video of Tuesday’s collision.

“I don’t think there would be anything wrong with the police releasing the video to see if there were other witnesses,” he says.