Cyclists ride to remember accident victim
[attach]4850[/attach]More than two-dozen cyclists rode across the city early last month to honour the late Jack Roper.
On the morning of Aug. 12 the group rode from Bloor Street West and Spadina Avenue to the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Plains Road, where the 84-year-old Roper was struck by a car while riding his bike exactly one week earlier.
Roper would bike to the nearby Karma Kafe on Coxwell Avenue in the mornings to meet with a group of friends. On Aug. 5 he had just left the café when he reportedly collided with a Toyota Corolla driven by an 81-year-old man who was not seriously injured.
“The last thing he said was ‘bye’ to everybody,” said Helen Sutherland, a friend of Roper’s from the café. “We were all there at the café that day and he said goodbye and we said, ‘ok, see you tomorrow’ and off he went.
Another memorial for Roper was held at the café on Aug. 21.
Roper, who fought for England in the Second World War before moving to Canada and becoming a postal worker, was a very jovial, healthy and active man, according to his friends.
“He cycled around here in all kinds of weather but he was very careful,” said Sutherland. “The only thing he wouldn’t do was wear his helmet, which we kept asking him to do.”
Roughly half of the cyclists who travelled along Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue during the morning rush to honour Roper were wearing helmets. Most of the group are members of Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists. Others knew him or just came to pay respects to a fallen cyclist.
The group placed a white “ghost bike” at the corner where Roper was killed and then gathered in the middle of the intersection and observed a minute of silence.
“At first we did a lot of advocacy but basically right now all we do unfortunately is memorials for cyclists,” said Derek Chadbourne, a 15-year member of the organization.
Although this is the first memorial the organization has held this year, Chadbourne said that Toronto’s current municipal government is making the roads less safe for people on bicycles.
“I think that because of the administration that we have right now it is giving people the idea that cycling is for second-class citizens and that they don’t belong on the road and therefore you can deal with them as you see fit,” he said.
Still, Chadbourne said that the group had no political motives in holding the small ceremony.
“The intended use of this is not for a political purpose it’s more just to give our regards to a cyclist because it could have been any one of us,” he said.
Roper is survived by his two sons Shane and Christopher, his granddaughter Sarah and a great granddaughter Katie.
