Cross Canada Cyclist Killed On Highway 17 East
 

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Just after 6:00 p.m. on Monday 31 July 06, a cyclist journeying across Canada to raise awareness for access to legal assistance, was struck and killed by a vehicle.

Both vehicles were traveling eastbound on Hwy 17 at McAlpine Beach Road when the collision occurred. Preliminary investigation indicates that both vehicles were at the end of a passing lane with a Mini Van following a tractor-trailer. The Van collided with the cyclist as the lane came to an end causing fatal injuries to the cyclist.

Officers from East Algoma O.P.P. with Technical Traffic Collision Investigators and re-constructionists are still investigating the incident.

Traffic on Highway 17, about 90 minutes east of Sault Ste. Marie , was and is still restricted to one lane.

The deceased has been identified as 65-year-old Dugald CHRISTIE.
Christie resided in Vancouver. Christie was a well-known Vancouver-area lawyer and activist for equal access to legal assistance.

Highway 17 from the Soo to Sudbury sucks big time. I've never felt safe on it as a motorist.

Given that, why was he riding a bike there?

Going East of the Soo, you either take #17 up to sudbury, or you cross into the states and go under the great lakes. He was riding across canada so he must have wanted to stick to the trans-canada.

The highway winds for 300km over the canadian shield. The shoulder is approx. 12 inches wide and there are tons of little communities where the speed limit drops. The passing lanes are few and far between and it's heavily travelled. So you always get idiots passing when it's unsafe and using the passing lane after the 200m warning. Every second vehicles is a transport.

Bummer =[
How horrible to die on a tour.

The canadian gov't is in the process of twining the parts (if not all, I'm not sure) of the Trans-canada highway due to head-on collisions and increased congestion. Guess they didn't get to this section yet.

I just drove most of 17 in July, if they're planning on twinning the whole thing, they better get started soon if they want to be done by the end of the century. We saw tonnes of cyclo-tourers on our way across the country. I'd have to say 17 in Ontario wasn't the worst section, that honour would go to the transcanada east of Winterpeg. Twinned freeway with only a *****ty gravel shoulder.

Highway 17 east of sudbury has been under continual construction for years. It may be twinned all the way up to sudbury now. Last time I was thru, it started about half way to parry sound.

Here's more info on the deceased:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/natio...bc-lawyer.html

Looks like he'll be sorely missed by the Vancouver legal community.