E-Bike Fatal Collision in London Ontario – Continued Lack of Transparency

by | May 22, 2026 | News

Is this an e-bike or a pedal bike with balloon tires? Who is riding this bike? Is it safe to ride this bike on a sidewalk versus in a travel lane? Many questions but no official answers. Fatal collisions often occur because cyclists and the drivers of motor vehicles get no information about how collisions happen and they cannot detect a dangerous situation.

Not unexpectedly, another fatal collision involving a cyclist riding an e-bike occurred in London, Ontario on May 15, 2026 and there has been no disclosure about its location, who died, or anything about how the collision occurred. This collision was not publicly reported until May 19, 2026 , or 4 days after the occurrence, when official news media prepared articles from a London Police news release.

The location of the collision was described as in the area of Brydges and Egerton Streets in east London. There are cycling lanes on both of these roads in the described area. Googlemaps views of the area are shown in the following photos.

This view shows the general area in east London where the fatal e-bike collision occurred.
No official information is available as to the precise location of the collision with respect to the T-intersection of Egerton and Bridges Streets.
New cycling lanes were installed on both Egerton and Brydges Streets within the last few years. A “Green Zone” for cyclist use has been created on Brydges Street and this requires cyclists to cross the path of right turning motor vehicles.

Some views of the area are shown below, taken the morning of May 20, 2026.

This view, looking north, is taken along Egerton Road from just south of its intersection with Brydges Street. This view is along the west side of Egerton. Railway tracks exist to the north and south of this intersection. As can be seen cycling lanes have recently been installed along Egerton but also along Brydges. So why was the rider of an e-bike killed at this location?
This is another view looking north along Egerton Road from just south of the intersection with Brydges Street. This view is looking from the east side of Egerton. As can be seen railway tracks exist near the intersection but no official information has been disclosed whether these characteristics at the site had anything to do with the fatal collision.
This view is looking east from the west side of the intersection of Egerton Road and Brydges Street. This view is looking along Brydges Street from Egerton. As can be seen cycling lanes exist on both sides of Brydges Street. So how did an e-bike rider become fatally injured near this intersection?

Again, there has been no information released by the London City Police about this collision. Not even basic information such as the travel directions of the involved vehicles. No description was given of the vehicle that was involved in the impact with the fatally injured cyclist. There are public safety repercussions that are created when cyclists and motor vehicle drivers are left in the dark about how such collisions occur.

With the absence of any information about the actual collision, based on our review of thousands of serious collisions, it is possible to consider some of the characteristics at this intersection and to comment on what issues could pose safety problems to cyclists.

Brydges Street has been redesigned in recent years through the creation of new cycling lanes. This is something that has been incorporated from the intersection of Clarke Road which is about 3.7 kilometres east of the collision site. Egerton Street has also seen the installation of cycling lanes in recent years. So there has been an increase in the number of cyclists using Brydges and Egerton as a path to other destinations in the City of London.

There are several safety problems along these roadways that are not unique but are just a manifestation of what goes on whenever cycling lanes are installed, regardless of the specific location. A common problem that is never discussed in official circles is that, whenever there is a change in direction of a roadway or cycling lane, bad things can happen. This is not something new. Decades of investigations of motor vehicle collisions in the vicinity of southern Ontario have shown that, Whenever a horizonal curve exists there is a greater potential of a serious collision. This is just a recognition that drivers of motor vehicles must make adjustments to their steering, braking and acceleration in curves which they do not need to do on a straight and level roadway. Well, for cyclists the issue is no different. Cyclists experience the same difficulties. But when you combine the difficulties of drivers of motor vehicles along with the difficulties of cyclists this magnifies the potential for disaster. These comments are exemplified in the following cyclist observation at the Brydges-Egerton collision site.

This is a view looking west along the south side of Brydges Street about 100 metres east of Egerton Street. An eastbound cyclist is approaching the curve. Drivers of motor vehicles, such as the one in the foreground find it challenging to stay precisely in their lane and often wander into a cycling lane because of the curve.

The actions of the eastbound cyclist shown in these photos is typical of what often occurs within horizontal curves. Cyclists do not maintain a precise, centre position within a cycling lane and this wandering can lead to a conflict with a motor vehicle approaching from the rear. Drivers of motor vehicles also experience the same difficulties.

Here we can see the eastbound cyclist travelling too far to the edge of the cycling lane just as a vehicle is approaching from the rear. This is a common occurrence within horizontal curves.

While we often believe that roadway markings are straight this is not always the case. As our eastbound cyclist continues travelling to the east we can see, in the photo below, a typical roadway marking that deviates from a straight line. Deviations like these can place cyclists and passing motor vehicles in conflict.

This view, looking east along Brydges Street shows a typical example where roadway markings are not always straight. Changes in direction of roadways and their markings can place cyclists in conflict with passing motor vehicles.

Another emerging problem in local design of cycling lanes is the “Green Zone” shown below. Cyclists travelling westbound on Brydges Street are directed to travel within the exclusive Green Zone if they intend to turn right at the upcoming T-intersection. The obvious problem is that drivers of motor vehicles who intend to turn right must cross through that green zone in order to enter the right turn lane. This places cyclists in dangerous situations where they ride “into the path” of a faster-moving motor vehicle. Such an arrangement is ripe for misjudgment errors both both cyclists and motor vehicle drivers.

A common practice in the vicinity of London Ontario is to create cycling “Green Zones” where cyclists are encouraged to travel into the path of faster-moving motor vehicles. In this westward view drivers of motor vehicles must travel across the Green Zone in order to enter the right turn lane. This arrangement is ripe for dangerous misjudgments.

One of the key elements to collision causation is the phrase “violation of expectation” and this can apply to the current site. Drivers are rarely taught that their driving (or cycle riding) must be predictable to others. When we violate someone’s expectation of what we do we become a safety hazard. However, in some instances, the design of roadways and vehicles can be the accelerant to violations of expectation.

At the current site there are no restrictions to what types of cycles use the cycling lane. And therefore the speed of cyclists varies. A young or elderly rider using a pedal bicycle may travel at average speeds below 18 km/h and sometimes much lower.

Faster-moving cyclists can sometimes be detected by the style of the cycle and what the cyclist is wearing. So someone riding a road bike with riding gear can sometimes be detected by drivers of motor vehicles as someone who could be riding quickly. And this becomes important when cycles and motor vehicles approach an area where they must cross paths such as at the current site.

However we are seeing more and more riders of e-bikes and some of these are difficult to differentiate from a standard pedal bicycle. Sometimes one must look very closely for some evidence of a battery to recognize an e-bike. However the driver of a motor vehicle approaching from the rear is unlikely to detect whether such a battery exists and so they will find it difficult to detect that they are approaching an e-bike. The problem is that the speed of e-bikes is not correlated with the experience and abilities of the rider. Whereas a rider of a road bike often has greater experience and ability in order to travel at a higher speed, an e-bike rider does not. E-bike riders can be of any age or ability and their speed is only governed by what adjustment they make to their throttle. And this is an emerging problem. Yet our observational data has shown that e-bike speeds are higher than the speed of almost all pedal bicycles. While, officially, e-bike speeds must be below 32 km/h, the reality is that many e-bikes are manipulated to attain higher speeds.

Accompanying this problem with e-bikes, is an additional problem that has existed for decades with respect to differences in motor vehicles. There is no restriction as to what kind of motor vehicle can drive along Egerton or Brydges Street. While some vehicles can be small, some can also be large. With large vehicles there has always been a problem with proper visibility of smaller motor vehicles, cyclists or pedestrians in their vicinity. Drivers of large trucks such as a tractor-trailer or dump truck have special difficulties seeing objects near their right sides.

Numerous examples have been created in past cases where poor visibility has been shown to exist for drivers of heavy trucks. One example is shown in the three dated photos below.

Here a passenger car has been placed near the right side of a tractor trailer to demonstrate what could be seen by the truck driver.
This view from the rear shows the distance between the vehicles in the test.
This view shows what can be seen from the driver’s seat of the truck. Note that the passenger vehicle cannot be seen, not even in any of the mirrors.

The unfortunate reality is that, unless someone has some experience in driving a heavy vehicle, such visibility limitations are not understood.

Combining these facts we can consider what might happen if an e-bike was westbound on Brydges Street and approaching the Green Zone. At the same time we can consider that a truck is approaching the e-bike from behind. The driver of the large truck does not know that the cycle is an e-bike but a decision must be made whether to pass by the e-bike, cross over the Green Zone and then enter the right-turn lane. And this is where the “violation of expectation” comes into effect. The truck driver may not appreciate that the cycle is an e-bike which could be travelling much faster than a typical pedal bicycle. Believing that there is sufficient time and distance to pass a “slower moving” pedal bicycle the truck driver proceeds to make the passing maneuver and then steers to the right, across the Green Zone, into the right turn lane. The driver of the truck may not have a good view of where the e-bike is located when the two are side-by-side because of the limitations that truck drivers have in observing objects just to the right of the truck. Meanwhile the rider of the e-bike may no be aware that this truck will be crossing into where the cycle is travelling. And so the right side of the truck makes contact with the e-bike. This can result in the fatal consequences to the rider of the e-bike.

We know nothing about whether such a scenario played out in the collision of May 15, 2026. And neither will any other driver in London nor any other cyclist. The officials who know how this collision occurred have deemed it appropriate to keep this information from the public. There are several articles posted on the Gorski Consulting website where it has been shown that, over the years, nothing of substance has ever been revealed in the recent cyclist fatalities that have occurred in London. Nothing of substance has ever been provided to the drivers of motor vehicles or to cyclists about the specific dangers that could involve them in a fatal cyclist collision. And there are numerous collisions involving cyclist injuries that are never publicly reported. In fact police are not obligated to file a collision report involving a cyclist unless a motor vehicle was involved. So there is no public information about how cyclist collisions are occurring. This lack of transparency has repercussions. While the public propaganda refers to catchy phrases such as Vision Zero, it has been said before on this website that the reality is Zero Vision – we chose to keep the public blind about the causes of collisions that are killing and injuring them.