Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Another Fatality By Bus

For the third time in a row the victim of a fatal Philadelphia Bicycle Crash involved a bus. According to the Inquirer a 26 Year Old bicyclist was killed last night at 6:50 pm while riding in the bike lane on Delaware Avenue near Fairmount when a Greyhound Bus turned in front of him.

The victim stopped suddenly and flipped over the handlebars and was crushed by the bus.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

At John Boyle's suggestion, I'm repeating here my attempts to get more info on this event. Bottom line is that police reports/investigation are not publicly available to us civilains!

"I looked hard online on the philly police site, spoke w/ contact for civilian oversight group and the "headquarters" and "public affairs" group, and confirmed what I didn't know,which was that all these reports are not public domain. Public affairs does not release info to public (ironically)..only to "news" outlets (are we one? :-)= ). So as far as I can see, we couldn't get reports of these investigations directly. "Freedom of Information Act" requests are specifically only for federal gov't, and law enforcement stuff is tricky even there...."

Anonymous said...

Please do more!!! The innocent bicycle rider was our dear George Gonzalez. Our family hopes that justice prevails. The Greyhound bus driver should have given George room to ride on before turning. I hope other bicycle riders are outraged and place flowers in front of Greyhound and do what you can to express your outrage. This should not have happened. An incredible artist, musician, entertainer, brother, son, lover, friend has been taken from us. The "accident reconstructionists" are not doing enough. Please help in whatever way you can to prevent anyone else from meeting such tragedy.

Anonymous said...

Does the city have any intention of preventing future tragedies, by building a safe bikeway system?

And what would be "safe", anyway?

Clearly, one can't rely on responsible driving by motorists.

Perhaps succession, with separate bikeways, like these:


http://www.geocities.com/whodamnever/urban_planning/grid_bikeway/grid_bikeway.htm

Anonymous said...

(Make that, "secession".)

1ST said...

Witnessed a Greyhound bus accelerate and run a red light at 4th and Spring Garden yesterday. Many of the Greyhound buses are reckless heading over to their depot on Delaware Ave.

Anonymous said...

Carrie, I'm sorry for your loss, and I really hope that justice prevails, too. It's the only way anything will change.

I know an attorney, who's also an avid Philadelphia biker. I'm sure he would be happy to take on this case. We've almost been hit ourselves whiling biking through the city, but there's very little you can do about being almost hit.

Contact me if you're want his contact info: swatkaizen@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

we miss you george

uptown bike said...

With the installation of a ghost bike in George's honor, a page has now been dedicated to him on www.ghostbikes.org:

http://www.ghostbikes.org/philadelphia/george-gonzalez

M. said...

We are still missing you and loving you George, and fighting for you every day, along with fighting for safety for all other bikers/pedestrians. 2 years later, I walk around Philadelphia every day and I'm constantly outraged by the close calls I witness due to the negligence of drivers. I am also disgusted by the behavior of large corporations who think they can take life and limb of individuals and get away with it, through their lies and money. Nothing will bring you back, but we are going to make sure the parties responsible take FULL responsibility for your NEEDLESS and SENSELESS death. I know you still feel our love.