As I have previously posted here, I am a regular bike commuter and I frequently feel the impact of a woeful lack of city commitment to enabling safer and more biker-friendly city streets for this purpose. Last week, on my ride home, I was stopped mid-ride on Dexter Avenue by a full-police re-route for what looked like a traffic accident. While I was loath to consider it, being that I was on my bike and mid-commute myself that day, my first thought (sadly) was, “Oh no, I hope that wasn’t a bike/car accident in the road up ahead…” My fears proved true when I learned about the hit-and-run that just prior to my own ride had resulted in a rider being in Critical Care and a driver not apprehended. The worst possible consequence occurred in this case, in that the man hit later died from his injuries.
My friend and fellow bike commuter Brad Kahn wrote a post which ended up as a Letter to the Editor in the Seattle Times. The link to his post is here.
I can only say, as follow on to my previous post, that I concur with Brad and reinforce my previous assertion: How many environmentally-responsible bikers need to be killed in this city before more safety-responsible City action is taken to allocate safe, visible, dedicated bike lane resources?
Get with it, Mayor McGinn and the Council. The blood is on the hands for this horrible accident last week of the driver of that hit-and-run SUV… but there are simple, low-cost measures that should be implemented to reduce the likelihood of tragedies like this occurring again. Mayor McGinn, you were voted in to office in no small part on a campaign committed to alternate transportation and commute options and investments — you included pictures of bicycles in your campaign materials, and you touted your bike commuting habits as evidence of your views on this issue. We all realize budgets are tight and that tradeoffs are the name of the political game. But speaking for all of us who maintain our commitment to (and enjoyment of) using bicycles as an alternate to cars and buses for moving around this city, we’re not seeing the kind of leadership here we need to see. And I think we can all agree that avoidable deaths are not what we want Seattle known for as a supposedly bike-friendly city.
