Well known cycling lawyer says a local motorist is not only stalking cyclists but also running them off the road and one incident was captured on video by that very driver.
A 23 minute long video posted to a YouTube account called “38KSW” shows a group of cyclists driving around Dundas, but also captures the driver yelling at them.
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According to biking lawyer and cycling activist Dave Shellnutt, the video was recorded by someone who is targeting cyclists and he goes as far as calling it stalking. He posted a community safety alert on his website.
“You see these types of behaviours more and more and as someone who is out there on a bike versus a massive SUV of a pick up truck, it’s certainly unnerving.”
Shellnutt says, the man who took this video also hit a McMaster student named Matthew who was cycling with some friends on Sydenham Hill in Dundas just a few days earlier.
“They heard honking and aggressive noises coming from behind them, looked around and saw a driver gaining on them fast. The driver swerved even closer and clipped Matthew with his trailer. He went off the roadway into the ditch and broke his pelvis.”
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The driver did speed away, but his friend were able to catch the driver and demanded he wait for authorities to arrive. Matthew was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Mark Anderson with Cycle Hamilton says it’s difficult to watch the video. “Anger, he did a lot of things that he is accusing the cyclists of doing, like run a stop sign, at the very end he ran a red light, knowing that he was following a group of cyclists and they don’t know who he was. They didn’t know what was going to happen. It’s scary out there…”
Shellnutt has now been retained to advocate on Matthew’s behalf.
CHCH News reached out to Hamilton police and they have confirmed these incidents are under investigation but would not say if the vehicle in the video and the one that hit Matthew are the same.