Ellen Watters

Rising competitive cycling star Ellen Watters ​died after having been struck by a ​motorist near Sussex, NB, in December 2016. Watters, 23, was on a training ride.

“Unfortunately, many of us already know about these risks from personal experience, or the loss​ of someone dear...we need better laws to keep cyclists safe on the roads,” said Watters’ sister Lily Watters, a New Westminster resident.

Watters was also an advocate for better laws to protect cyclists on the roads, according to her roommate Emily Flynn.

“Losing Ellen was a horrible reminder that far too often we are not safe. It was a harsh reminder of my vulnerability, of all those times when I thought I was visible to motorists only to feel the blast of a vehicle passing way too close,” said two-time Olympian ​Tara Whitten​ from ​The Cyclery-4iiii.

BCCC, as members of the BC Road Safety Law Reform Group, is recommending a Safer Passing Law​ in British Columbia, which would require the following changes to the Motor Vehicle Act:

• That a motor vehicle driver pass a person cycling, walking, using a wheelchair, or riding a horse (also called a ‘vulnerable road user’) by at least  1.5 metres

• In cases where there is more than one lane for traffic in the same direction, that a motor vehicle driver would have to have to pass in the lane next to the lane a vulnerable road is using