No helmet and no lights earns cyclist a broken bike and a ticket

VERNON – A cyclist was hit by a car and ticketed for letting it happen Monday night.

RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the 29-year-old man was riding west on 30 Street around 8:45 p.m. when he collided with a white Acura Integra driven by a 40-year-old Vernon resident. The driver was also traveling west on 30 Street, making a righthand turn onto Alexis Park Drive.

“A witness told police that the cyclist had been riding extremely fast without lights at dusk,” Molendyk says. “He appeared to be watching the opposite light turn yellow, then red and speeded up to get through the light just as it turned green.”

The witness said there was no way the driver of the car could have seen the bike coming. The front tire of the bike was damaged, but the cyclist wasn’t hurt.

“It appeared the cyclist was maneuvering his bike to get in front of the car,” Molendyk says.

The cyclist was ticketed for failing to wear a helmet and riding after dark without lights.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.