The death of 33-year-old cyclist Mathilde Blais, killed by a truck while riding to work through the St. Denis underpass on April 28, was avoidable and could have been averted by a simple sharing of the road, Quebec coroner Paul G. Dionne has ruled.

He recommends that Quebec’s ministry of transport and the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec enforce minimal distances between vehicles and cyclists, make security barriers placed between truck tires mandatory, and he advises the creation of more secure bicycle routes especially on major streets.

In his report, Dionne finds Blais was killed immediately as she passed under the overpass, her head crushed by the tire of the trailer bearing a crane.

Blais was an experienced cyclist, he notes, and was on her 43rd Bixi ride of the year on the day she was killed. She rented a Bixi 600 times last year. The bike, and the truck that killed her, were both in good condition. There was no indication of drug or alcohol use.

Blais entered the underpass at 6:38 a.m., riding in the right-hand lane. The truck-trailer was following behind in the same lane.

“The lane was not wide enough to accommodate both the truck and a bicycle,” the coroner notes.

The truck pulled away slightly from Blais, then drove back into her lane in order to keep the left lane open.

“We will never know if there was contact with the woman,” Dionne writes. “We do know that she was struck mortally by the front wheels of the trailer. ... First impact was to the head. Death was instantaneous.”

In his comments, Dionne finds the death was avoidable.

“The road should have been shared, as the SAAQ advertisements advise. If that had been the case, the tractor trailer would have given the right of way to the woman, or could have taken the left lane, as the law allows for passing a bicycle.

“We do not know if the woman was struck by the truck, or if she simply took more space once the truck passed (the most probable case), not realizing it was pulling a trailer.

“A lateral safety barrier would have prevented the woman’s head from coming under the truck’s internal tire,” Dionne writes.

“Conclusion: A preventable accidental death.”

Coroner's report on death of cyclist Mathilde Blais

rbruemmer@montrealgazette.com

Twitter: renebruemmer