A ghost bike has been installed on the side of Highway 97 near the Kelowna-Lake Country border, marking the spot where a cyclist was killed in May. Bill Urquhart, 70, died after being struck by a vehicle while trying to cross the highway near the Parkinson Drive intersection at the north end of Ellison Lake. Urquhart lived nearby and was heading downtown to attend a community worker support program at the college, a trip he’s made regularly for years. “He dreamed of working with the homeless and people with addictions,” reads a placard on the ghost bike. “He’s actually been helping people all his life, as a paramedic, SHARE Society District Director, life coach and anger management specialist. He had an incredible life and would give his life to save another without a second thought.” Landon Bradshaw, president of the Kelowna Area Cycling Coalition, says this is the first ghost bike they’ve had to install in about three years. They currently have four of them in town and they usually stay up for three to five years. The white bikes are intended to “commemorate and help keep it in the minds of everyone out there what has happened and what continues to happen,” Bradshaw said. Many studies have shown that making drivers aware of cyclists makes the roads safer for everyone, he added. Urquhart’s death renewed calls to open the Okanagan Rail Trail on the east side of Ellison Lake through OKIB land. The rail route opened in 2018, but that section remained closed due to the red tape involved in transferring the land from the federal government to the First Nation. If the trail was open, Urquhart would be on it, instead of the highway. Local mayors and MP Tracy Gray have called for the file to be moved, but there is no resolution. Bradshaw said Urquhart, two years ago, was calling the city of Kelowna “trying to find out what was going on with the rail line and trying to get that part of the rail line open.” He was probably well aware that the spot where he died was the most dangerous part of his downtown commute. “This was a guy who was very community-friendly, and his loss is everyone’s loss,” Bradshaw said, adding that he wishes people would look out for each other on the streets. Photo: Contributed Bill Urquhart
