Fatal hit-and-run underscores need to close bike-lane gaps: cyclists

Cycling advocates in Winnipeg are drawing attention to the abrupt end of the active transportation route on Kenaston Boulevard where two people were killed by an alleged impaired driver in a hit-and-run Saturday night.

Police were called to Kenaston and Enterprise Drive around 9:30 p.m., where they found two people seriously injured. Egor Popov, 31, died at the scene and Kerry Ashley Bonner, 25, died in hospital.

A 46-year-old man has been charged with several offences, including two counts of dangerous driving causing death.

Police found a bicycle in the area, but at the time it was uncertain whether one or both of the victims had been riding the bike or whether they were walking with it when they were struck.

Mark Cohoe, executive director of Bike Winnipeg, said the tragedy shouldn’t have happened.

“Had there been a separated pathway… this tragedy was preventable,” he said Wednesday.

There is a gap in the active transportation route between Sterling Lyon Parkway and McGillivray Boulevard in which cyclists must use a gravel shoulder.

Investigators learned a southbound pickup truck on Kenaston that was travelling at a high rate of speed had veered onto the shoulder and struck Bonner and Popov.

Cohoe said several of the city’s bike lanes and pathways end with no safe alternative for cyclists. The North Winnipeg parkway and Inkster Boulevard are some areas where cyclists are at risk, Cohoe said.

He said the city must prioritize cycling and other active transportation infrastructure to prevent collisions.

“(The city) has chosen to develop neighbourhoods that are going to promote and really encourage that type of transportation. We’re also trying to get people to switch modes, but yet, we’re not really providing the necessities that to provide a safe mode of travel for people,” he said.

Police ask anyone with information or relevant dash camera or other video footage to call the traffic division at 204-986-7085.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

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