About 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 25, our friend was walking her dog on a leash near the bench overlooking Green Lake, on the Valley Trail, when the dog was hit and badly injured by a man on a powered board.
The man, with longer grey hair, paused momentarily to confirm that the dog was injured and then took off at high speed.
The dog, a survival gift to our friend from her husband as she battled and survived a diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer a few years ago, has required several visits to the vet, stitches, medications, and special care, to say nothing of the costs involved.
This is really not what our friend needed at this time as she battles another diagnosis of terminal cancer, while also caring for her husband who is coping with the debilitations of Parkinson’s disease.
On Sunday, Sept. 4 at about 5 p.m., there were cyclists speeding by the same spot, causing pedestrians to jump aside to avoid being struck.
One morning, a young person on a powered bike raced by on the Valley Trail at Rainbow Park, and would have demolished any person or thing in a collision.
On a couple of occasions, there have been men on road bikes travelling at speed while chatting who would have wiped me out had I not seen them and yelled a warning.
I, for one, feel less safe now riding my bike or walking on the Valley Trail than I do riding my road bike on the streets of Vancouver.
We can all become aware that we do not own the Valley Trail and that it is our shared responsibility to use it with care and consideration for others.
It is time for the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) to act!
Yes, the RMOW can firstly improve visibility around bends, [but it could also] monitor and enforce some form of speed control with fines or public shaming of those who threaten the safety and common good of people on the Valley Trail.
The Valley Trail is a jewel. It is time we all treated it as such.
