Terrence Tuck a 27-year old messenger in Calgary was struck and hospitalized by a messenger van on the 24th of October. Unfortunatley he was unable to recover from his injuries and passed away in the hospital Friday night. This is the first work-related death in the Calgary messenger community. A sad time for everyone - even those who don't know him must think back and remember the times they have made a bad judgement call and been lucky enough to ride away intact. Our thoughts go out to his family in there time of loss!
Bike courier dies two weeks after collision
Deborah
Tetley and Scott
Crowson
Calgary Herald
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
The parents of a Calgary bike courier who died in hospital two
weeks after he was injured in a collision thought their son's
health was improving. But on Friday morning, 27-year-old Terry
Tuck suffered a massive stroke on the left side of his brain and
died.
"It was so unexpected," Thomas Tuck, Terry's father, said Monday. "We thought he was getting better. He'd improved to the point where the doctors reduced his medication, and we were feeling positive."
Tuck, originally from Red Deer, was injured in an accident Oct. 24, suffering critical head injuries after colliding with a van. He was not wearing a helmet.
His mother, Patricia Duncan, also from Red Deer, said her son was an avid traveller and hiker who recently spent three years in Jasper working in the service industry. "He was such a down-to-earth person. Warm, helpful, loving and he just loved snow and landscaping."
Tuck was in the throes of developing and marketing a new design for a "sleek" snow shovel and had recently built a prototype. His next step was to have it patented. Duncan said she's optimistic a friend or family member will pick up the invention where her son left off.
Terry Tuck's parents say they harbour no anger toward the driver of the van that hit their son. "I can't do anything to save my baby," Duncan said, "but I don't want the fellow who hit him, or his family, to think for a moment it was anything but a terrible accident. "Sometimes these unfortunate things happen," she said. "But we never expected him to pass away."
The courier company that recruited Tuck -- believed to be Calgary's first bicycle messenger killed while on the job -- said it is planning to do something special to recognize him. "He was very easy-going," said Brian Podiluk, logistics manager for West Direct Express Ltd. "We're having a get-together (tonight) to decide how best to recognize Terry."
Tuck was recruited to work for the company at the end of July. He didn't have any prior experience. Bicycle couriers are considered to be independent contractors, meaning that they choose the hours they work and what assignments they take. "Bike couriers tend to form a subculture unto themselves," Podiluk said. "Terry had many friends in the organization and undoubtedly crossed paths with bike couriers from other companies."
He said serious accidents involving bike couriers are rare here. "This is the worst accident we've had in the industry," said Podiluk, who has been working in the field for 20 years.
The accident happened when Tuck veered into traffic from the Colonel Belcher hospital parking lot on 4th Street S.W., between 12th and 13th avenues. "He just came out of nowhere," said the motorist who hit him. The van driver was also a courier.
No charges were laid. "It happened so fast, there was no time for the driver to take evasive action," said Sgt. Norm Doerksen.
A funeral is to be held Friday in Red Deer.