An Ottawa woman is calling for dedicated bike lanes on Holland Avenue after she was hit by a pickup truck Thursday afternoon.

Sylvia Smith, 61, was riding her bicycle north along Holland Avenue just before 4 p.m. Thursday when she collided with a black pickup truck turning left onto Sherwood Drive.

There was a gap in the line of cars idling in the northbound lane and Smith said the truck, instead of nosing through the gap to look for oncoming traffic, accelerated into the turn.

"I slammed on my brakes as hard as I could but it wasn't enough to miss," she said.

She ran into the passenger side door, flew off her bike, hit her face into the concrete, and was rushed to the hospital. She has five stitches in her cheek, severe bruising, a black eye and sore muscles, but counts herself lucky to be alive.

But she wants the City of Ottawa to do more to protect cyclists.

"If a city wants to really take seriously protecting their cyclists, they have to have dedicated bike lanes that actually have barriers that protect a cyclist from oncoming vehicles," she said.

"And even that doesn't always protect us but it would sure go a much longer way than having nothing, which is basically what we've got now."

Ottawa police said a 27-year-old man has been charged under the Highway Traffic Act with making an improper left turn.

A cyclist rides along the Harmer Avenue pedestrian bridge detour route on Holland Avenue on July 16, 2018, before the city made some changes to the route in an attempt to make the road safer for cyclists. (Marc-André Cossette/CBC)

Changes made recently to detour

The Holland Avenue bike detour has been a source of contention between cyclists and the city.

After initially ruling out changes to the bike detour in July, Mayor Jim Watson said changes would be made to the street, with a continuous 1.5-metre-wide cycling lane on each side of Holland from Kenilworth to Tyndall streets and a half-metre buffer between the road and cycling lane, along with flexible posts.

Those changes were made three weeks ago, on Sept. 4. The speed limit was also reduced from 50 km/h to 30 km/h on that section of the detour.

The city is aware of Thursday's collision and is continuing to work with the community "to raise awareness about the detour and educate users on maximizing safety," said Carina Duclos, the city's municipal manager of design and construction, in a statement to CBC News.

Other cyclists are also calling for more changes in the wake of the collision. Critical Mass Ottawa is holding a ride from Confederation Park to the intersection of Holland Avenue and Sherwood Drive starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday to demand better bike infrastructure.

Smith said she may attend the rally but for now, she's glad she is alive and able to hold her nine-week-old grandson again. She hopes the city will pay more attention to the needs of cyclists and those who don`t use vehicles.

"It just takes a split second and your whole life can just be changed."