Montrealer recovering from serious injuries after avoiding e-scooter on bike path

A 19-year-old Montrealer is recovering from serious injuries after crashing his bicycle while trying to avoid an approaching e-scooter on a bike path in Montreal’s Hochelaga.

Shawn John David was riding with his brother along Notre-Dame Street, near Sicard and Louis-Payette streets, on a route they knew well when he says an e-scooter approached at high speed.

“The man on the e-scooter was going faster than the speed limit. He wasn’t really staying in his lane either,” David said. “He was partly in the other lane, and there just wasn’t enough space for both of us.”

David says they were blinded by the bright lights of the approaching e-scooter. While trying to avoid it, he crashed into a tree. The impact broke his bike in two.

The e-scooter rider continued on.

His brother is safe, but the experience has left him deeply shaken. David’s mother, Karine David, says she feared the worst when she arrived at the scene.

“I was really afraid he was going to die,” she said. “But I thank God he’s still with me today. And when I arrived at the scene, my son was unconscious.”

Calls for safer bike paths

Jean-François Rheault, CEO of Vélo Québec, says the Notre-Dame bike path where the crash occurred has long been a concern. he called it “one of the worst in Montreal.”

“Many stakeholders have mentioned to the city and the provincial government that this bike path needed to be upgraded,” Rheault said.

The crash has also raised questions for David and his family about what options are available to victims when a motor vehicle isn’t involved.

“To be compensated by the SAAQ, a car would have had to hit him,” Karine David said.

She says the family also looked into compensation through Quebec’s crime victims’ assistance program, known as the IVAQ, but was told there were limitations in their situation.

According to the mother, police told the family her son would have had to make contact with the other rider for the incident to be considered a hit-and-run.

For Shawn, that is difficult to accept.

“To be told at a police station, or by anyone, that I should have just caused an accident, crashed into him, hit someone, just so I could get something in return, that’s something I can’t even imagine doing,” he said.

Gaps in collision data

Rheault says better collision data is needed to get a clearer picture of the risks posed by different devices and inform decisions around safety rules.

“Generally speaking with the SAAQ, and we spoke about that in the last few years, the quality of the collision data is not good enough,” Rheault said.

“For instance, we don’t have a separate category for e-bikes. They’re just classified in regular bikes. Also, we do not collect data when a motorized vehicle is not involved. That’s also a problem.”

A long recovery ahead

Shawn is now out of the hospital and recovering, but his family says the impact of the crash is far from over.

“It really scared me because he was telling me he could become paraplegic,” his mother said. “I know Shawn. He loves being active, he loves going to the gym. Now he won’t be able to do those things for a while.

“Something like this can really tear a family apart. It’s dangerous.”