TORONTO - A man has been charged with careless driving after Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon got knocked off her bike and sent to hospital.
The bike-loving councillor was riding south on Woodbine Ave. crossing Gerrard St. on Sunday when she was hit and left lying on the street just before 11 a.m.
"I'm all banged up on my left side but I'm surprised I can walk away - it could have been a lot worse," McMahon told the Sun on Tuesday.
McMahon - who is running for re-election - said she was being her "classic, cautious, Mary Poppins, cyclist self" when the incident happened.
"The light had just changed and next thing I knew I had a passenger side door right at my handlebar and so I yelled, I screamed and then thump, the back of the car hit me and tossed me off onto Woodbine," McMahon said. "I was lying there on Woodbine and thankfully no one ran over me."
"I can't believe I'm OK because I was lying on Woodbine Ave." she added.
The Beaches-East York (Ward 32) councillor said someone called 911 because they were worried she hit her head.
"The ambulance came and then they were worried because my blood pressure was quite low so they loaded me up, took me to emergency and I had a CAT scan," she said.
A Toronto Police officer interviewed McMahon at Toronto East General hospital and told her the driver had been charged with careless driving. Police confirmed the charge on Tuesday but wouldn't reveal the driver's name.
Although she's always advocated for separated bike lanes, McMahon said the incident has driven the point home.
"We need more separated bike lanes," she said.
John Mohler was one of the drivers who stopped to help McMahon.
"I saw somebody on a bicycle going over, I didn't really have a clear view of exactly what happened but I just saw somebody going over and down," Mohler said. "I just pulled over and stopped to see if there was anything I can do to help."
Mohler agreed "it could have been worse."
"If you know people who commute on their bikes or ride their bikes around then you know people who have eventually had accidents like this, unfortunately in Toronto it is just too common," he said.
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