A motorcyclist and passenger suffered minor cuts after driving into wire or fishing line that someone strung up across a Central Saanich road.
The pair was riding in the 8200-block of Thompson Place at around 12:25 p.m. Sunday when they were caught by the wire.
“The male felt pain in his leg and the female felt a sting in her arm,” said Central Saanich Police spokesman Cpl. Dan Cottingham. “Just then it had snapped, and they were quite shaken so they pulled over.”
The line sliced through the passenger’s jacket and cut her arm, while the driver suffered a minor cut to his leg.
The wire, which was strung from a neck-high height to the ground on a diagonal slope, was so strong it even cut through the windshield of the motorcycle, Cottingham said.
“It could be very serious. This is a very popular cycling route,” he said. “You’re going down some of these hills at a pretty good clip, if you didn’t have a windshield to protect you and that was to catch you right around the neck area it could’ve done a lot of damage.”
The area is so popular with cyclists every summer that it hosts a time trial once a week.
“Whether or not someone is unhappy with the amount of cycling up here, I don’t know, that’ll be part of the investigation,” said Cottingham.
Willi Fahning says he rides his bike in the area often and is going to exercise extreme caution on the route from now on.
“I think it’s absolutely idiotic, I mean you’ll murder somebody,” he said. “You go down the hill on the bicycle, you go like 60, 70 kilometres an hour. It will cut your head right off.”
If it was a booby trap, it wouldn’t be the first attempt to sabotage a popular route on Vancouver Island.
In March, Nanaimo RCMP warned cyclists after discovering wire strung at neck level along a mountain biking trail, as well as jagged, wooden stakes embedded along a popular route.
Police are investigating the Central Saanich incident and are asking anyone who runs or rides a bike in the area to use caution.
Those with information are asked to call Central Saanich Police at 250-652-4441 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
