UPDATE: I took this picture tonight at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association's press conference at the accident site.The cyclist killed by the garbage truck yesterday has been identified as 22 year old Alice Swanson.
I'm having a hard time getting this tragedy out of my mind. It happend on a street corner that has been a part of my DC life for years. Across the street from where it happened is where the LTR worked for nearly 15 years. A sandwich and coffee shop next to the intersection has been a gathering place for me and my friends on many sunny afternoons.
I rode by this morning. A small memorial was taking shape with some boquets of flowers set in a tree box at the intersection. I made a small contribution to that collection. In the median strip on Connecticut Ave someone has placed a ghost bike -- a bike painted all white to signify the death of a cyclist.
The bike lane closely parrelles the crosswalk at that intersection. Eyewitnesses say she was in the crosswalk, but she could have been in the bike lane and appeared to be in the crosswalk. Not that it matters either way, as regardless she would have been in the path of the turning truck.
My heart goes out to her family and friends. What a terrible loss.
2 comments:
Excellent post. I have linked to this at The DC Feed.
I'm only a block away myself. I bike through that intersection all the time. So awful.
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