How One Windsor Native Turned Tragedy Into Activism, Making Ontario Cyclists Safer On The Road
Story by Matthew St. Amand
The 2025 Ontario Bike Summit is coming to Windsor. First organized in 2009 by the Share the Road Cycling Coalition—Ontario’s cycling advocacy and policy organization—the City of Windsor will host Canada’s largest cycling and active transportation conference at Caesars Windsor from May 27–30.
The event is expected to bring two-hundred-fifty delegates to the city, including elected representatives from all levels of government, municipal and provincial staff, as well as industry leaders from across Canada plus internationally to share innovations, best practices and opportunities for progress in cycling.
The fact is, viewed from any angle, cycling is a positive endeavor that should be encouraged in every community. Its benefits to people’s health, mental health, the environment and community are manifest. The theme of this year’s Summit is “Bridging Communities, Building Connections” and will celebrate the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, highlighting its pedestrian and cycling lanes that will encourage travel and tourism to this area.
Founder and Board Chair of the Share the Road Cycling Coalition, Eleanor McMahon says: “We are delighted that Windsor is hosting the 17th annual Ontario Bike Summit. With cycling infrastructure investments providing connections to the new bridge and the new National Urban Park, Windsor is the ideal location for conference attendees to both learn from Windsor’s progress and be inspired by innovations underway in cities across North America.”
Essex County, as a whole, is a great place for cycling. I should know—I have pedaled more than 77,000 kilometers around the county since May of 2020. There are few roads I have not biked, regardless how distant or disused. The beauty of cycling is that there are no wrong turns, just unexpected explorations of new trails, the discovery of new routes.
My favourite route takes me from my home in LaSalle into Windsor, along the bike lane of newly paved Sandwich Street and entering the waterfront trail beneath the Ambassador Bridge. I pedal the length of Windsor, taking Wyandotte Street to its termination point on Banwell Road, and from there find my way to Emeryville. Among the signs I see along the way are the County Wide Active Transportation System (CWATS) and Share the Road.
I have encountered Share the Road signs on some of the most far flung, seemingly forgotten roads in the county, and every time I see one of them, I feel like there is some unseen person looking out for me. The vast majority of drivers who pass me are courteous and considerate. There have been a few close calls, but by and large, my experience on Essex County roads with my bike has been highly enjoyable.
As it turns out, there has been someone looking out for me, and all of the cyclists, on these roads: Windsor native Eleanor McMahon.
“Cyclists deserve and need their space on the road,” Eleanor explains, “so creating the Share the Road Cycling Coalition really became a rallying cry for continued legislative change and mobilizing all the people who were already engaged.”
Eleanor founded the coalition in 2007 following the tragic death of her husband, Ontario Provincial Police Sergeant Greg Stobbart who was killed by a careless driver while riding his bicycle on June 6, 2006. A driver in a truck tried passing Greg on a two-lane road while both were going up a hill. When an oncoming vehicle suddenly came over the crest, the driver passing Greg shot back into his lane, the side-view mirror of his truck striking Greg, knocking him off his bicycle. He died a short time later in hospital.
Rather than allowing herself to be paralyzed by grief over this senseless tragedy, Eleanor took action.
After the reckless driver was found and brought to court, it was learned that he had five convictions of driving under suspension and four convictions of driving with no licence. He had also racked up more than $14,000 in unpaid fines. Two months after Greg’s death, that driver was charged with following too close to another vehicle after getting into a second accident.
As a communications and marketing professional, Eleanor was very familiar with the inner workings of government policy and laws. Her resume includes time spent as Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s press secretary. That background likely provided her the strength, patience and tenacity that most would not possess. So, Eleanor turned her grief into action, founding the Share the Road Cycling Coalition to develop a provincial, grassroots cycling advocacy organization in Ontario. In November 2008, Greg’s Law was tabled in the Ontario legislature as part of a larger Road Safety Bill, Bill 126. That bill passed on April 22, 2009. Greg’s Law targets drivers like the one who caused Greg’s death. The legislation gives Ontario police the ability to take dangerous drivers off the road, and keep them off the road.
Eleanor did not stop there. Through her travels, she has always been on the look-out for new ideas to promote cycling and promote the healthy lifestyle that comes with it, as well as cycling safety. In 2012, some acquaintances invited her to England.
“I was asked to a meeting of all the national cycling groups in the UK in advance of the London Olympics, at Westminster,” Eleanor recalls. “In attendance at the meeting were a number of Members of Parliament, members of something called the All Party Cycling Caucus.”
Members of the All Party Cycling Caucus, as well as Members of Provincial Parliament, will be in attendance in Windsor.
Another idea to come from England is Bikability, a program launched in 2007 bringing cycling skills education to people of all ages, taught to children during school time by external people, and to national standards just as the Dutch are doing. The program is funded by the government, but not run by the government. Since 2007, five million kids in the UK have learned to ride their bikes safely.
“Not only is Greg remembered through the Share the Road Coalition,” Eleanor says, “and the Ontario Bike Summit, but a trail was named after him in Orillia. He brought so much joy to people. One of Greg’s friends just called the other day, with a Greg story. He is still very much with us.”
For more information about the summit or to learn more about the Share the Road Coalition, visit sharetheroad.ca.
Published in the May/June 2025 Edition.
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