The driver never saw him.
Cyclist Brent Hillier had just wheeled around a crash on Lynn Valley Road and was picking up speed when a driver rolled through the bike lane.
After realizing she was about to make a right turn Hillier said he jammed on the brakes.
“She didn’t even realize that she had done it. She just kept on driving,” Hillier said.
For about half a kilometre between Morgan Road and Mollie Nye Way, Lynn Valley Road provides a separated lane for cyclists. However, on the stretch between Mollie Nye Way and Lynn Valley Centre the borders between vehicle traffic and cyclists largely disappear.
“They’ve painted a bike on the road and that’s supposed to keep us safe,” Hillier said, adding that the fading paint is due to cars rolling over top of it.
Hillier said he would like to ride his 18-month-old son to the Lynn Valley library or to the family’s garden plot near Lynn Valley rec centre but he’s felt stymied by that stretch of road.
“I just can’t do that with my little guy,” he said.
An avid mountain biker, Hillier said he can often deke around wayward motorists. But with his son strapped into his seat the bike becomes heavier and less manoeuvrable.
The district installed delineator posts to mark the bike lane in 2017 but removed them to make room for snow plows last winter.
The pylons are essential to protect cyclists, Hillier said.
“Within a week of those pylons being up they were all covered in black scuff marks; which is normally me getting hit by a mirror,” he said. “Even in standstill gridlock traffic, as a cyclist you’re stuck because you have to dodge mirrors to get through.”
District council voted to approve a $1.35 million project to widen Lynn Valley Road to make room for the bike lanes in 2016.
The long-term plan is to extend the separated bike lane to Lynn Valley Town Centre, likely after securing a partnership with a developer, according to district spokeswoman Stephanie Smiley.
“We intend to work with developers as applications come in to include extensions to the bike lane as part of their off-site works requirements and community amenity contributions,” she stated in an email.
The district also plans to re-install the posts along Lynn Valley Road in conjunction with the Lynn Valley underpass project, according to Smiley.
“Unfortunately, there have been delays with the detailed design work for the underpass delineator placement. We know the community is keen to see the delineators installed and we’re doing our best to get them in as soon as possible,” she stated.
The Lynn Valley underpass project includes improved lighting, a new southbound lane and a continued bike lane connection from Lynn Valley Road heading southbound. A northbound connection will not be provided. However, the district has “identified this as a missing cycling link, and are investigating it as a future project.”
The underpass has been a point of contention for Lynn Valley resident John Durrant. While an Edgemont intersection is “lit up like a veritable World’s Fair,” the underpass has only received “a bit of green paint and the hopes and prayers of parents sending their kids across to . . . two elementary (schools) and one high school,” according to Durrant.
Hillier said he can cycle 50 kilometres from the North Shore to Vancouver and back again and the only stretch of road where he ends up with one foot on the sidewalk is in Lynn Valley.
The lack of a bike lane is also frustrating due to what Hillier termed “atrocious” traffic in the area. On his bike, he said he can get to Lynn Valley Centre in five minutes. But if forced to deal with highway traffic in a car, it takes him at least 15 minutes.
“I’d love to be one less car on the road in Lynn Valley, if only there was a safe way to do it.”
ICBC recently put out a release urging drivers and cyclists to take extra care from May 28 to June 3 for Bike to Work Week.
The number of cyclist-related crashes rises in the summer months, as approximately 760 riders are injured and seven are killed between June and September.
ICBC recommended cyclists obey traffic signs and use designated bike routes.
