Yet ANOTHER Bicyclist killed by a driver

[TheTed]

Southwest Boulevard is never that busy when I'm on it. I see no reason why bikes shouldn't be allowed on it. Would it really be that big of an inconvenience if it was turned into a two-lane street with a center turn lane and bike lanes on both sides? Doing that to several of our barely-wide-enough-for-four-lane streets would go a long way toward making Tulsa more friendly to bikes and pedestrians.

Southwest Blvd parallels I-244, so there's no reason it should be a speedway. It should be a slow neighborhood street with a speed limit of 30mph. If people don't want to drive that slow, get on the interstate.

[Conan71]

I don't care if you make bike lanes or not.  Cycling is always going to have some inherent danger so long as bikes share the road with 4000+ pound vehicles.  I understand the risk every time I hop on my road bike or motorcycle, or decide to go for a walk.  Hell, there's always the possibility I could drown while rowing.  Point is, accept there is risk with cycling and move on.  Bike lanes wouldn't really improve rider safety so much as motor vehicle safety because it keeps cars from having to swerve into oncoming traffic on a two-laner or into the next lane on a four-lane road.

I saw a little hostility toward bikes last night, one woman honked and shook her fist at my training partner and I as she drove past.  She had plenty of room, she was just being an donkey.

[cynical]

Another fact check:  this rider was not on SW Blvd.  If she had been on SW Blvd, she very likely would be alive today. 

Fact check.  Wait for the facts to come out.  He was not a Sinclair employee.  Not everyone working over there is an employee of the company; not every group that works over there is completely forthright about certain facts.  But way to take a cheap shot.  We need more people spouting off without the facts on the internet.

As for the bike lane, I'm not making an excuse, but it seems like there have been a lot of issues like this on Southwest Blvd in recent years.  And from personal experience, I've seen an unusual number of wrecks over there.  How about not riding your bike over there?

I'm not attempting to excuse the crime here at all.  I hope whoever did this gets what is coming to them.  Perhaps we should have streets where it is OK to ride bikes and others where it is not permitted.  Southwest Blvd seems to be a prime candidate for the latter category.

[Grizzle4D8]

From the evidence, Mr. Alvelais-Torres collided with Mrs. Duffield in the intersection of 1401 W. 17th St., 36.137571,-96.008148   

Mrs. Duffield entered the intersection, westbound., W. 17th, a small CoT collector.  Just minutes before the collision, Mrs. Duffield phoned her husband, to notify him of the start of her ride.

The SUV stuck the front wheel of the bicycle.  Both the rider and bike were thrown approximately 20 feet south, from point of impact, terminating 2 feet from a sign post on the west side of the roadway.

A ghost bike has been installed at the crash site. 

Sources:

http://www.myspace.com/tulsabikepalooza

http://www.ghostbike.org

http://www.rideofsilence.org

1974 Cross/Fisher Study of Bike/Motor Vehicle Crashes:  http://www.johnforester.com/Articles/Safety/Cross01.htm