Police are investigating after a 55-year-old North Vancouver man was killed in a collision on West Esplanade Sunday afternoon.
According to investigators, the man was riding his bike within the painted bike lane when he veered into the right lane where the driver of a truck towing two trailers was also westbound.
“It’s a tragic accident. Any time a cyclist and a truck of that size collide, the cyclist is definitely more vulnerable,” said North Vancouver RCMP spokesman Cpl. Richard De Jong.
Determining exactly what happened in the moments leading up to the fatality, however, has been handed over to the RCMP’s Integrated Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service, which can take months.
“They do a very thorough, often forensic analysis of the evidenced gathered at the scene,” De Jong said.
Police are releasing very little info about what happened, though witnesses reported the victim had swerved to avoid a car door opened by a driver whose vehicle was parked in the curb lane. De Jong could not confirm that, but said it is something ICARS is looking at.
“That’s all part of the investigation,” he said.
For more than two hours, investigators blocked off Esplanade to traffic and covered the scene with a tarp, including a vehicle parked in the curb lane.
“That became a crime scene, if you will,” De Jong said
Under the Motor Vehicle Act, a person “must not open the door on the traffic facing side of a vehicle until it’s reasonably safe to do so.”
De Jong could not say where the driver of the truck, belonging to Arrow Transportation, or the cyclist were headed at the time of the crash.
Police have canvassed the area looking for witnesses and surveillance footage but anyone who saw the collision and has not spoken with the police is asked to call the North Vancouver RCMP at 604-985-1311, De Jong said.
