This isn't a race

Last month, on March 24th, Cary Coovert, 71, died in a fatal bicycle collision. Yet another victim of our poorly designed transportation system - you would think. But this situation was very different. Usually, when something this tragic happens, it's because an inattentive car driver is involved. However, Cary's death happened on Minuteman Bikeway in Lexington (a car-free place), in the middle of a sunny Sunday - in fact, just about 2 hrs before I rode by that location. He crashed head-on with another cyclist, who miraculously survived.

A week later, a white ghost bike was installed near the crash site, in Cary's honor. I have to say it's very striking to see it everyday on my commute. The main reason I like to take Minuteman Bikeway on my way to work is that's free of cars. I use Bikeway because it makes me feel much safer, even though it takes me more time to get to my office. But now, Cary's ghost bike reminds me that I'm vulnerable, no matter where I ride.

I don't know details of Cary's crash. I have no idea why it happened. But since I was on the Bikeway that day, I remember it was full of people - on bikes, walking, with strollers, etc. And I think that this may have been the culprit. Minuteman Bikeway is a popular shared path. It's used by lots of people, especially on warm weekends. Perhaps Cary was trying to avoid some pedestrians and didn't notice the other cyclist approaching from the opposite direction?

Ideally, we wouldn't want to mix pedestrian traffic with bicycles, just like we don't want to mix bicycles with cars. By law cyclists are required to yield to all pedestrians on shared paths, but too often I've seen cyclists treating Bikeway as their own race track.

Recently, these red signs returned to Minuteman Bikeway after months of winter and the other day on my way to work I noticed some that sound very appropriate, given Cary's death:

Adjust your pace

To available space

Note traffic conditions

This isn't a race

Even though that looks like a good advice some cyclists could use, Minuteman Bikeway still remains one of the safest places to ride a bike in my area and I wish we had more well-connected greenways like it, or at least a good network of protected bike lanes on town streets. We really need those to separate us from aggressive drivers who see cyclists as "less than human".

Unfortunately, building new bike lanes is difficult at best. There's always a group of well-misinformed, "concerned" citizens ready to oppose any change. And some of their arguments are utterly ridiculous.

For now, having the scraps of a proper bicycling infrastructure we have here in Massachusetts, please remember to ride defensively. That is, don't rush, don't trust others and keep your eyes open all around your head. I just really don't want to see any new ghost bikes anymore.