‘You can’t just blame pedestrians and cyclists:’ Safety advocates call for meeting with Toronto police – July 18, 2016 Metro News

A July 18, 2016 Metro News article is entitled: ” ‘You can’t just blame pedestrians and cyclists:’ Safety advocates call for meeting with Toronto police.”

The subhead reads:

A coalition of cyclist and pedestrian advocates have written a letter to police asking for a meeting to discuss how fatal collisions are reported.

The opening paragraphs read:

Victim blaming has to end.

That’s the message from a group of cycling and pedestrian advocates asking for a meeting with Toronto police to discuss the way officers report on fatal collisions.

The meeting was requested by Bike Law Canada founder Patrick Brown after what he and others — including Cycle Toronto and Walk Toronto — consider a series of recent missteps by police.

In particular, Brown pointed to the case of a cyclist who died July 5 after he swerved to avoid a turning vehicle on Dupont Street and collided with a parked car.

Police spokesman Const. Clinton Stibbe initially told media the cyclist was travelling too fast and without due care and attention. He recanted the following day and admitted the 71-year-old cyclist had the right of way.

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