A video obtained by the Star showing a 15-year-old cyclist being struck by the driver of a pickup truck in Scarborough earlier this week has angered road-safety activists who say the teen is lucky to be alive.

In the video, the boy — who appears to be wearing a backpack — can be seen riding on the west-side sidewalk of Victoria Park Ave. near Surrey Ave. shortly before the start of the school day Wednesday morning. As he rides north, a pickup truck driver can be seen beginning to exit a strip mall parking lot. The driver hits the boy without stopped, knocking him off his bike and to the sidewalk.

The truck then completes the right-hand turn as its front- and back-right wheels can be seen rising up and over the bike in quick succession. The driver continues south for about 25 metres before stopping.

The surveillance camera footage, taken from a plaza across the street, ends as several other drivers stop and bystanders rush over to the boy.

According to Toronto police, he was taken to hospital but sustained only minor injuries in the crash.

“That’s really hard to watch,” said Sam Perry, who co-ordinates Cycle Toronto’s Bike to School Project, which teaches young people to cycle safely. “It’s a horrifying, terrifying nightmare.”

“You can see the child tried to stop and yield” before he was hit, Perry said, adding the driver appeared to be too focused on making the turn to see the cyclist.

“That was really close,” Perry said. The boy was “very, very lucky.”

Security footage filmed near Victoria Park and Surrey Aves. in Scarborough shortly after 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning shows the driver of a turning pick-up truck hitting a 15-year-old cyclist who had been riding on the sidewalk. The boy suffered minor injuries in the crash.

Perry said incidents like these are constant all over the city, and teaching people to avoid such crashes is a big part of his group’s educational programming. While riding on sidewalks is sometimes permitted — but not for those age 14 and older, according to city bylaws — the practice can be dangerous as it can turn “pretty much every driveway” into an intersection, he said.

Dedicated cycling infrastructure would help reduce the risk, he said.

According to Toronto police Sgt. Murray Campbell, charges “have, or will be laid” in the crash.

The case “is another good reminder to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians that everyone needs to give their full attention when on and around our roadways,” Campbell said in an email.

“With the change of commuting patterns, the return to school and the loss of daylight hours, this has to be in the forefront of everyone’s mind.”

Campbell said he has no indication the boy is still in hospital.

The Star does not know the identity of the boy or the driver.

Lisa Peds, who works at a health centre in the plaza across from where the boy was hit, said she saw police taking photos of a “twisted” bike laying on the sidewalk Wednesday, the second day after most Toronto schoolkids resumed classes.

Peds, who walks her children to school every morning, said drivers in the area have been using residential streets to avoid construction on Eglinton Ave., which she said has made walking to school less safe.

“You don’t want kids to feel unsafe going to school. Someone should do something about it,” she said.

Spokespeople for both the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board said they did not think the boy was in their systems.

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Cycling advocate and former Toronto police bike cop Kyle Ashley said the video is yet more evidence that Toronto cyclists and pedestrians live “in an active war zone.”

“This was not an accident,” he said. “This video is completely reflective of the lawlessness and lack of political will that is rampant on our streets.”

Ashley said the city needs reform that addresses how inequitable the system is to vulnerable road users, he said.

“This young boy is lucky to be alive.”