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Hamilton motorist charged after local cyclist, teacher killed in December

The motorist, a 56-year-old man whose name has been withheld, was charged with careless driving. He's scheduled to appear in court on March 30, 2016.

Hamilton police have charged a local driver in connection with the death of a 53-year-old cyclist in December, the CBC reports. The motorist, a 56-year-old man whose name has been withheld, was charged with careless driving.

He’s scheduled to appear in court on March 30, 2016.

On Dec. 2, 2015, Jay Keddy, a kindergarten teacher at Prince of Wales School in Hamilton, was riding on the city’s Claremont Access, a route noted in a 2009 report as a place to build a protected bike lane. An active member of a local church, Keddy was en route to a service, reports said, when he was fatally struck by a vehicle described as a black pickup.

The truck was reportedly seized for investigation after it left the scene of the collision. Meanwhile, its operator was released “unconditionally,” according to a statement released by the Hamilton police. Constables, the CBC reported, offered no details about why the driver—whose charges involve a fine between $400 and $2,000 and the possibility of six months’ jail time, along with a possible license suspension—wasn’t charged for leaving the scene of the accident, nor why the investigation took two months.

After the popular kindergarten teacher was killed, cyclists, advocates and friends participated in a march on the road where he was hit, then erected a ghost bike memorial to the fallen rider. His death, the CBC noted, was the 16th fatal collision in Hamilton of 2015.

His death also serves as a tragic reminder of Hamilton’s need for more and better cycling infrastructure, advocates said.