A Carleton student died in an accident while cycling on Bronson Avenue on the evening of Oct. 18.
Krista Johnson, a second-year master’s student, was struck by a car just south of Holmwood Avenue around 7:45 p.m., according to Ottawa police.
The police report also stated that she was travelling northbound in the southbound lane at the time of the collision.
An off-duty paramedic was treating Johnson when emergency personnel arrived, according to CTV. She was taken to the Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus for treatment, but later succumbed to her injuries.
Flags flew at half-mast for Johnson, and the School of Social Work held a memorial in Dunton Tower on Oct. 22.
The university also extended its “sincerest sympathies to the Johnson family, and to all of those who knew her,” in a statement.
Ottawa police have stated that no charges have been laid against the driver of the car, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
They also indicated there was no evidence that speed was a factor in the collision, and that an investigation into the accident would continue.
Johnson is the fourth cyclist to be killed in an accident on Ottawa streets this year. A white ghost bike now stands at the scene as a memorial.
In light of the tragedy, Carleton student Colum Grove-White has launched a petition asking the National Capital Commission and the City of Ottawa to establish a pedestrian bridge in the area.
He says that the current bridge is “problematic, because it’s tailored for cars, it’s not tailored for pedestrians and cyclists . . . and I’m not convinced that they’re going to be able to re-draw the lines on the bridge.”
Instead, Grove-White has proposed that there be a bridge constructed across the canal in a similar fashion as spans at Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa.
“This isn’t a crazy, radical idea” Grove-White said. “It just makes sense.”
