On Tuesday August 28th a beautiful seven-year-old girl, “Queen” Victoria Anne Hazel Jones, lost her life riding her bicycle across a crosswalk. It would be hard to imagine a more tragic circumstance.

The area in which she lived is divided by a road with townhomes on one side and a school with a playground on the other. The area screams that there are children around, especially with the attraction of a playground across the street. This is exactly what Victoria was doing, using the playground across from her home. So natural. This should have never happened.

Exactly what happened just before she got hit is still not clear and may never be. Her two brothers tell an entirely different story to what happened than the media has. I am not going to debate what happened here. Regardless of how accountable the driver is for this, he will have to live with a lifetime of that day.

On September 4th I along with other cyclists and the ‘Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists’ held a cyclist memorial for Victoria. As you can see in the short Youtube video we had installed a Ghostbike at the location. Since removed at the family’s request, it was too much of a reminder to bear for them so close to their home.

As we were packing up to go home Victoria’s family arrived home from belated back-to-school shopping and came to spoke with us. Victoria’s father, Christopher, presence was strongly felt, I do not know how to exactly describe it but it was fierce. It seemed that he was mustering all of his strength trying to balance outrage, tragedy with love and sorrow all the while being strong for his family. He told us that losing a child is, “not like losing your brother”. I could not even began to imagine the pain he was feeling, just the mere thought is agony. He told us he has not had a chance to cry yet because Victoria has five other brothers and sisters he and his wife have to care for. You could see that pressure bearing down on him when you looked in his eyes.

I have talked to several families that have lost loved one’s to cycling incidents. The questions are always the same, who was with them when they passed. Did anyone hold their hand? Did anyone try to comfort them? This causes them so much pain knowing that they died alone. In this respect Christopher and his wife were really fortunate, though I do not know if they would find this of any solace in such a tragedy. When Victoria needed her father the most he was there. He and his wife cradled Victoria on the road as she took her last breaths knowing her parents loved her and that they were there.

I hope that Christopher finds peace in the next little to lie down and cry for Victoria.

Queen Victoria Ann Hazel Jones. R.I.P.