You don't have to tell Claudia Wagner-Riddle how dangerous riding a bicycle on Gordon Street can be.
"I consider myself lucky," says the University of Guelph professor, sitting in her office with her fractured elbow and injured wrist in a sling, the facial bruises recently faded.
"The headline could have read University of Guelph professor biking down Gordon killed," she says.
Wagner-Riddle was riding home from work on Nov. 3, heading north down the Gordon Street hill: helmet on, lights on the front and back of the bike, riding in the bicycle lane.
Traffic was stopped to her left as she coasted down the steep hill when one of those stopped cars motioned a southbound car waiting to turn left onto Dormie Lane to zip through the lane of stopped traffic.
The driver turning left and Wagner-Riddle saw each other at the last second.
"The last thing I remember was screaming, hitting my brakes and thinking my head was going to hit the road."
Next thing she knew she was sitting on the sidewalk, dazed, confused and injured. An ambulance took her to hospital.
The incident backs up the official police statistics that show for the first nine months of 2016 there were 34 reportable collisions involving cyclists in Guelph. Off those 34, eight of them were on Gordon Street.
Of those 34, 14 involved a car that failed to yield.
Worst days for cyclist collisions were Thursday and Friday, worst time between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Wagner-Riddle, who has been riding her bike to and from work year-round for the past three years, said she did everything right, but it didn't help.
"I thought I was safe in the bike lane," she said, "but bikes are almost invisible to the cars sometimes. Maybe it gives you a false sense of security."
Her message to those riding bikes on busy roads is to be vigilant, slow down in high traffic areas and always try and make eye contact with motorists when turning.
She would also like to see more warning signs at intersections, where the bike lanes are not painted on the road.
"It will definitely change the way I ride," she said.
"I don't want it to discourage me from biking. I like biking. But if I choose to bike. If I want to be safe I will have to do more than I'm required to do."
