Patrick McCabe, an experienced Ottawa cyclist, rides with a group before his devastating crash.Supplied
For the nearly four weeks that he was in intensive care, Ottawa cyclist Patrick McCabe wondered when police would ask about the car that put him there.
“Because of how injured my dad was, I had to repeat everything. I was telling him sometimes four times a day that the police officer was going to come and interview him … [because] that’s what they told me,” said Monique McCabe, whose dad Patrick was hit while cycling in the outskirts of Ottawa and was still recovering when she spoke to The Globe and Mail. “They’ve still never spoken to him.”
Patrick, 69, suffered a concussion, multiple broken bones, including a broken collarbone that required surgery, and a punctured lung when he was struck around 10 a.m. on June 11 in a rural area about 40 kilometres southeast of downtown Ottawa.
While the officer had come to the crash scene before paramedics took Patrick to the hospital, he later told Monique that Patrick hadn’t been ready for an interview.
“He said that [my dad] was covered in blood and didn’t know what city he was in,” she said. Instead, without Patrick’s side of the story or any witnesses or video footage, Monique said police took the driver’s word that Patrick was at fault.
But to Monique, the scenario the driver described to police – which is still in the official collision report obtained by The Globe and Mail – didn’t make sense.
The crash happened at the intersection of McCordick and Century Roads. Traffic on McCordick has a stop sign but traffic on Century doesn’t – so traffic turning or going straight through at McCordick has to stop and yield to traffic on Century.
The way the driver told it to police, she was on McCordick Rd., had come to a complete stop at the stop sign and was waiting to turn right. But when she took too long, Patrick came from behind and passed her on her left to make the right turn in front of her. She hadn’t seen him and when she slowly started to turn, he slammed into her.
“When I was on the phone with the officer and he told me that part, my mouth dropped,” Monique said. “[The driver] also said she was going 20 kilometres an hour when he hit her.”
Digital proof
Passing a car at a stop sign and then making a right turn in front of it didn’t sound like something her dad, a skilled cyclist who competed in races and often rode hundreds of kilometres a week, would ever do.
And that’s not what Patrick remembered, despite the concussion.
“He remembers being hit. He remembers the colour of her car. He remembers the cut of her hair,” Monique said, adding that his helmet cracked open in the crash. “He remembers everything very clearly to the point of collision. And then it’s kind of like everything after that gets [blurry] for him.”
But Patrick, who had just finished a 100-kilometre group ride and was heading home on his own, insisted he hadn’t ever been behind the driver on McCordick Rd. and never tried to pass her – he hadn’t even been on McCordick Rd. Instead, he remembered being eastbound on Century Rd. and going straight through – because he didn’t have a stop sign – when the driver turned into him from McCordick Rd.
“He had the right of way [to go straight] and [the driver] did not stop at the stop sign – she made the turn and drove into him,” Monique said. “And I don’t think she was going 20 kilometres an hour [like she said] just because of the overall impact to his body.”
Even during his first days at the hospital, Patrick had insisted that his family check the GPS data from his bike computer, Monique said.
That data confirmed Patrick hadn’t been on McCordick Rd. – so he couldn’t have been behind the driver or tried to pass her.
“If you zoom in on the [GPS map], he’s going straight through on Century until McCordick and then there’s chaos,” Monique said, adding that she had told the officer about the GPS map. “It’s just a ball of squiggles.”
David Shellnutt, a Toronto-based personal injury lawyer hired by the family, used the GPS data to push police to eventually charge the driver. But they only charged her with failing to yield, which carries a $110 fine and three demerit points.
Shellnutt believes the driver should face the more serious charge of careless driving, which can come with fines starting at $490 and can include a licence suspension.
“The injuries were massive here, which are grounds for [careless driving charges],” said Shellnutt, who specializes in cycling-related cases. “And, by the way, the driver lied. The officer said [the driver] … was really frazzled and gave her best guess at what happened.”
In an e-mail, an Ottawa police spokeswoman said she couldn’t comment on an individual case because of privacy concerns.
He said, she said?
It can be tough to determine who’s at fault when a cyclist is hit by a car, said Shellnutt. Often, cyclists suffer head injuries in collisions and they may not clearly remember what happened.
But even if the cyclist does remember, the driver may have a different version of events – and often drivers’ scenarios blame the cyclist, Shellnutt said.
That’s why evidence – including GPS data and video from bike cameras – is critical.
Shellnutt has used GPS data – from bike computers and smartphone apps – in at least three cases in the past year to prove that the driver was at fault.
While the online route map from Strava, a ride-tracking app Patrick was using, clearly showed he was on a different road than the driver claimed, other collisions can be more complicated and require experts to piece together what happened.
“[In those kinds of cases, we] need to get the physical device to them [so they can] pull all the data and then map it,” he said, adding that police usually have six months after a collision to file charges. “Sometimes we won’t get the data back until much later, so there’s no real chance to go back and get the driver charged. But it can still save the day in a civil case.”
Why does it matter who’s at fault? If police determine that a cyclist is entirely at fault, then there’s no way to sue the driver’s insurance company for damages and losses, Shellnutt said.
While GPS can help prove what happened, it has limits – it’s only accurate to within seven metres or so, he said. That’s why he recommends cyclists also use a bike or helmet camera.
So, how can the story from one side be so different from what actually happened?
“I think that a lot of these crashes happen because [drivers] are completely distracted, and so what they give is their explanation of what they think happened,” Shellnutt said. “And obviously that’s going to be not self-incriminating.”
More serious charges?
Patrick’s injuries weren’t life-threatening but they have changed his life – and it’s still not clear what the long-term effects of his concussion will be, Monique said.
“We’re looking at … months gone – he still can’t really do much,” she said. “He can’t drive and he doesn’t have the same confidence and freedom that he had before. Because of the concussion, he can’t read without getting fatigued.”
Her dad had been outgoing and self-reliant and has found it “frustrating and depressing” to need help.
As part of his physiotherapy, Patrick has been cycling at home on a stationary bike and hopes to eventually get back on the road.
But while the family is looking ahead, Monique is still frustrated that police didn’t take the driver’s actions seriously.
“I trusted the process, and now I just feel duped,” she said. She’s still hoping that police will lay more serious charges against the driver while they can.
“I want this documented. I want it on her record,” she said, adding that her dad was wearing bright colours and had a strobe light when he was hit. “My dad knows how to cycle safely. I just think that he did everything he could do, and it was an absolutely beautiful day – a really sunny and clear day.”