Man in neck brace after crashing into tree avoiding e-scooter on bike path

Karine David (right) was devastated when her son, Shawn John (centre), was seriously injured after crashing his e-bike into a tree while out with his brother, Christopher Rafael (left). The family faces a long recovery and wants riders to be safer on paths. (Karine David)

A young man is in a neck brace with his jaw wired after an apparent hit-and-run on a bike path. He was blinded by oncoming headlights while riding his e-bike, swerved to avoid an e-scooter travelling at high speeds, and hit a tree.

Shawn John David is 19 years old and decided to get some air with his brother, Christopher-Raphael David, 18, and took their bikes out for a ride on Oct. 11 at around 8:30 p.m.

The brothers were riding electric fat bikes and wearing helmets when they spotted the e-scooter approaching quickly in their lane.

“The electric scooter had super bright lights all the way from the tire to the handlebars,” said Shawn John. “We couldn’t see nothing.”

He said Christopher-Raphael was able to slow down and avoid the scooter, as was Shawn John; only he hit a tree, which he couldn’t avoid when he swerved to avoid the head-on collision.

“My brother got lucky,” said the older sibling. “I was the one who got less lucky because at the end I couldn’t see nothing... I tried to brake too. That’s what my brother said. There’s no possible like that I could do better for that situation. There’s nothing I could do, and the speed of the electric guy was all the way above.”

In addition, the young man said there was debris on the bike path, which runs alongside dozens of homeless encampment tents, making it even more difficult to maneuver.

Shawn John said the crash caused a loud “boom” that “woke up some neighbours,” as his fat bike tire blew and his front fork was broken.

Neighbours arrived on the scene to help Christopher-Raphael.

However, the e-scooter rider, Shawn John said, did not stop.

“He didn’t stop, didn’t ask for help, didn’t even notice anything,” he said. “He just went straight ahead to his own destination.”

The young man suffered a broken jaw, arm, and some fractured vertebrae. He spent five days in the hospital and has to wear a neck brace for at least a month.

Three flaws in the system

Vélo Québec spokesperson Magali Bebronne says the collision highlights three issues: regulation, compensation and infrastructure.

The Notre-Dame bike path is a heavily used roadway with stretches that are very dark at night, and in need of an upgrade.

“It doesn’t really meet the kind of standards we’d have for a transportation bike path nowadays,” said Bebronne. “We always need to look at the infrastructure, and we need to make sure that even if users make mistakes, the infrastructure is actually going to help us mitigate the risk.”

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A 38-year-old cyclist was killed in June after he tried to cross Davidson Street on the same bike path.

In addition, Bebronne says the insurance system needs to be updated to better reflect the current mobility world where bikes are used as transportation and cyclists, like drivers, may need compensation.

“When two users of micro mobility, whether it’s motorized or not, are involved in a crash, they have nowhere to turn for compensation,” she said. “As we’re encouraging people to turn towards sustainable modes, and micro mobility is part of those modes that we want to encourage, that, as a road user, you’re left to your own demise if you unfortunately are involved in a crash.”

Shawn John’s mother, Karine David, has set up a GoFundMe for her son, as she said she was told he does not qualify for insurance assistance.

Bebronne added that regulations need to be amended, as e-scooters, e-bikes and e-unicycles have become a regular feature on bike paths, with speed limits not always respected or enforced.

“We should be acting on the retailer side, on the importation side, to make sure that the devices that we want to see on our roads are actually respected, and that we’re not seeing all kinds of devices that are way too powerful and way too fast to cohabitate with regular bicycle path users,” she said. “The regulation framework really isn’t optimal or isn’t adapted to how fast the market and the technology is evolving.”

Respect on the road

Shawn John knows the crash could have been worse, and wants to use his misfortune to encourage others to be more respectful while cycling, especially on e-bikes and scooters that can reach high speeds.

“It is important,” he said. “We need to be like Good Samaritans. We need to be careful of other people. That’s what I was trying to do. I was trying to put the life of the guy not at risk. I wanted to go home, safely. That was the plan. I was just trying to be there for the other people too.”

Part of being a Good Samaritan, for Shawn John, is to slow down.

“This guy, all the guys that have electric scooters or bikes, they don’t like to be on the legal side; they want to be illegal,” he said. “They want to get to the max speed. They want to have fun. They want the adrenaline. That’s not the space for it.”

His mother is devastated that her son, who was taught to respect the rules of the road and was set to start CEGEP, has a long recovery ahead.

“As a mother, it’s incredibly difficult to see your child suffer and not know what the future holds,” she said.