Cyclist Struck And Killed At Beacon and Charlesgate

(via)

Apparently she was struck by a dump truck.

This afternoon, MIT visiting scientist Dr. Kanako Miura, 36, died in a bicycle accident in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Miura was a native of Japan and had been at MIT since the fall of 2012. Within MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Miura worked in the laboratory of Russ Tedrake, an associate professor of computer science and engineering. (via)

At about 3:34pm, on Sunday, May 19, 2013, officers from District D-4 (South End) responded to an accident involving a motor vehicle and a female bicyclist. On arrival, officers located a female victim suffering from what appeared to be life threatening injuries. As a result of injuries suffered in the accident, the bicyclist, a female in her early twenties, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Detectives – assigned to the Boston Police Department’s Accident Reconstruction Team – are currently investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding this accident. At present, the cause of the accident is still under investigation and no violations have been issued at this time. (via)

On Sunday afternoon at about 3:30, a 20-year-old woman was either riding her bicycle or walking beside it when she was struck by a truck, police said. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. There was a mangled bike found about a mile from the crash scene on Bay State Road. “It’s really a bad intersection, ” one resident said, describing the corner of Beacon Street and Charlesgate West, where the crash occurred. There is a bike lane on Beacon Street, but police said the woman was hit by a truck that did not stop. Investigators are trying to identify the driver of the truck involved in the incident. “People just don’t care anymore,” another resident said. “They are in such a hurry; they don’t care who they hit at all.” Police pulled over two trucks after the crash but they would not confirm whether either vehicle was involved in the incident. “It’s very scary; I live right next-door. I hope they honor the victim by making the road safer,” a resident said. As of Sunday night, police had not made any arrest or issued any violations.(via)

our hearts go out to her family and friends, more information when I get it. Of all the cyclist fatalities in the last two years, nearly all of them have been caused by large trucks. Perhaps its time the city does something about this.

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Remembering Chris Weigl

WHDH-TV –

First, Weigl wasn’t in his multi-media class Thursday morning. Then, a fellow classmate reported seeing a horrible accident on the way in.

“She said, ‘I accidentally looked over and I saw what happened and it was terrible and I didn’t mean to see it — I really didn’t want to see what happened. And she saw the bicyclist under the truck,” said Weigl’s professor, Peter Smith.

Minutes later, Professor Peter Smith told students the cyclist was their classmate.

“Everyone went into tears. Chris is one of the most loved students, one of the most brilliant grad students to come through here,” Smith said.

Weigl was a soft-spoken, talented photographer whom others admired.

“He was just a terrific person. He was so motivated and he really went out of his way to help anyone,” said Michael Cummo, a classmate.

Four weeks ago another BU student was killed when he was hit by an MBTA bus at Harvard Street and Brighton Street.

Read more: http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12009250109885/bu-student-on-bike-killed-in-collision-with-truck/#ixzz2EOAaCPq6

Christopher Weigl was ready to submit his ­final project of the semester Wednesday for a multimedia class at Boston University when a technical glitch stole all his editing work.

It was the kind of thing that makes the average first-year graduate student crumble. Not Weigl.

He stayed up late Wednesday, finished the project, and sent it electronically to his professor, whose class he was scheduled to attend at 9 a.m. Thursday, said Peter Southwick, director of photojournalism at BU’s College of Communication.

Weigl never made that class. The 23-year-old photojournalism grad student was killed on Commonwealth Avenue at 8:36 a.m. Thursday after his bicycle collided with a tractor-trailer turning onto St. Paul Street.

…

Boston police said Weigl, who was riding in a marked bike lane, was wearing a helmet Thursday.
A bicyclist joined in the vigil for Christopher Weigl.

Barry Chin/Globe Staff

A bicyclist joined in the vigil for Christopher Weigl.

“He was a calm hand on the wheel, had tons of common sense, very aware of the risks of riding a bike,” said Charlie ­Maher, one of his three roommates. “He was smart. He wasn’t some reckless kid on a bike without a helmet. That’s not the way he is at all.”

The professor in Weigl’s multimedia class, Peter Smith, canceled regular class affairs Thursday, opting to honor Weigl’s memory by showing his final project and another student’s project, which happened to be a video profile of Weigl.

Dan Herard, Weigl’s roommate and friend since grade school, said Weigl was the glue that kept friendships together. A “goofy” guy who always had a smile on his face, Weigl enjoyed the outdoors, dancing to techno music, and seemed to befriend everyone he met, Herard said.

“He always kept a positive attitude,” Herard said. “He was one of those people. Drove some people nuts because he was always happy. He was just Chris; there’s so much that ­encapsulates that.”

Kuan Liu was aboard the Green Line’s B train Thursday morning when she came upon the chaotic scene on Commonwealth Avenue: a body covered in a white sheet under a tractor-trailer. A devastated Liu later learned the person under that sheet was the very first friend she made at BU, where she is enrolled as an international student. He was her assigned ambassador at the school, helping her navigate a new school and country.

Weigl would invite Liu to his Brighton apartment, as he did all his friends, to watch television. When Liu could not under­stand what was being said, Weigl would patiently ­explain it all.

“He would always help me. He would walk me home when I was by myself to make sure I’m safe,” Liu said. “I can’t imagine this person in my life is the person under the white cloth.”(via)

“He was one of the best graduate students I’ve had here; he took responsibility for all of his work and met every deadline,” senior lecturer Peter Smith told BU Today. “He was the kind of student you hope for.”(via)

Several years ago I was on a ride of silence (a memorial ride for people killed on bicycle). I came across the father of Mike Hunt. He was there giving out little cards with his sons picture on it, looking us each in the eye, hugging us, and telling each of us thank you for remembering his son.

Tears still come into my eyes when I remember this poor mans face. The natural order of the world had been revoked, and a father was morning the death of his son. I still have that little card, and on days like today, when another young cyclists life has been taken I sometimes look at it and think hard about all the times I have almost been killed while riding my bicycle.

There is something profoundly wrong with the way our transportation system is set up. It doesn’t work for pedestrians, cyclists, or motorists. Car driving is a dead end activity for urban areas. There is nothing good about owning a car in a major city that can’t be supplanted or surpassed by good public transportation, walking and cycling. Our cars are literally going to be the death of us, either through crashes, health problems, or global warming.

The death toll from crashes, asthma, obesity, global warming, and heart attacks must stop. It’s time we stop planning our infrastructure around how best to accommodate current conditions, and start planning our infrastructure around what we want our cities to look like. We need to set goals, and work our way towards them.

Its time we take a hard look at when and how we let large vehicles use our streets. Its time we start decreasing the number of cars that use our streets. Its time we dramatically improve the cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure in our city. Its time we get creative with how we fund public transportation.

We shouldn’t accept a single death from driving a car, walking, or cycling. Its simply unacceptable that people die while just trying to move from point A to point B.

My heart breaks for the family of Chris Wiegl. I think about him and and I worry about what my own mother would have to go through had I been the victim of such a senseless act of carelessness. We must find a way to end this.

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Cyclist Killed On Comm. Ave By Semi-Truck

Its happened again…

(img src)

U-hub reports:

A bicyclist did not survive a collision this morning with a semi at Comm. Ave. inbound at St. Paul St..

At 8:51, Sasha tweeted from a passing trolley:

Body covered by a tarp. RIP. what a bad start to the morn.

By coincidence, a City Council committee holds a hearing on making Boston safer for bicyclists today at noon at City Hall.

More info when I get it:

NPR reports, that a cyclist was in a bike lane when the semi-truck made a right turn and hit him. Was a white male in his 20′s.

(img src)

Bostinno reports:

According to Boston Police, at 8:36 a.m., a cyclist was struck by an 18-wheeler at the intersection of St. Paul Street and Commonwealth Avenue, near Boston University campus. Police closed down the 900 block where the accident occurred.

Police confirmed at 9:49 a.m. that the cyclist died as a result of the accident.

People reported seeing a sheet over the bike and the victim at the scene as they passed the accident near Boston University’s campus.

EDIT: A picture of the truck.

EDIT: another image of the scene

The globe reports:

Boston police spokeswoman Cheryl Fiandaca said in an e-mail that the bicyclist was killed and that the department’s Homicide Unit is now investigating the incident. Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office has also sent a prosecutor to the scene, officials said.

EDIT:
WHDH-TV –

EDIT: Heading to this meeting, on bike safety, see you there, more when I get back.

EDIT:
Students name released:

Christopher Weigl (COM’14), a 23-year-old BU graduate student who was pursuing a master’s in photojournalism at the College of Communication, collided with a 16-wheel tractor-trailer at about 8:30 a.m. Witnesses say Weigl and the truck both were traveling east on Comm Ave and collided when the truck made a wide right turn onto St. Paul Street. The accident is being investigated by the Boston Police Department, which cordoned off the area and closed Comm Ave eastbound. No citations have been issued.

“Chris was just a great guy,” says Sarah Ganzhorn (COM’13), a fellow graduate student in COM’s photojournalism program. “He was always smiling. He was just a really chill guy who never had anything negative to say about anything.”

EDIT: More photos:

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Cyclist Hit And Killed In Allston

I am getting reports of a cyclist hit and potentially killed in Allston.

Here are the details I have so far:

Happened around 6:15pm tonight
Corner of corner of Harvard Ave and Brighton in front of Redneck BBQ
some say it involved an MBTA bus
No Helmet
Rider is male, wearing a Red Sox hat
white Giant bike with Knog lights
rider had a new Kryptonite lock on the handlebars

Apparently the ambulance didn’t rush off after loading him in, which means he is either ok, or dead. I am hoping he is ok.

Does anyone else have any information about this incident? More information when I get it.

EDIT: I am getting more reports that the cyclist has been killed, nothing confirmed yet though.

EDIT:

It was fatal sadly.

from here.

A 21-year-old bicyclist was fatally struck by a vehicle in Allston tonight, and authorities are trying to determine if an MBTA bus was involved, police said.

Boston police Officer Neva Coakley, a department spokeswoman, said the man was struck just before 6:30 p.m. near the corner of Harvard and Brighton avenues, and witnesses reported that the vehicle may have been a T bus.

Joe Pesaturo, an MBTA spokesman, said Transit Police are working closely on the investigation with Boston police and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, but he declined further comment.

Jake Wark, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said a prosecutor from the office was at the scene tonight, but authorities have not confirmed that it was a T bus that hit the man.

More than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed Boston police officers were at gathered at the intersection tonight directing traffic and telling pedestrians passing through the busy intersection to move along.

The eastbound lane of Brighton Avenue was cordoned off, just outside Redneck’s Roast Beef, and a twisted white bicycle was visible just off the sidewalk at the corner.

This is tragic, so young. If he was hit by a bus it will be yet another in a string of cyclists killed by large vehicles. This has to stop.

EDIT:More images of the scene here.

Bostonino reports that a bus driver has been taken out of service and questioned:

A 58-year-old MBTA bus driver has been taken out of service while the Boston Police Department and officials from the T investigate the circumstances of a bicycle accident in Allston that killed a man in his twenties.

“A Route 57 bus operator has been taken out of service while police investigators work to establish facts in this matter,” according to T spokesman Joe Pesaturo. “[The driver] is 58, and he has been with the T for six years.”

According to reports, witnesses said an MBTA bus may have been involved in the accident, which happened on the corner of Harvard and Brighton Avenues on Monday evening, just after 6 p.m.

Jake Wark, a spokesman from the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, said the cyclist was killed, but no charges have been filed at this time.

“It is still under investigation,” said Wark, via e-mail to BostInno.

Wark did say, however, it was a “bus and [bic]cycle collision.”

EDIT: Seems the bus driver didn’t realize he had hit the cyclist.

The bus driver was unaware he struck the bicyclist, according to police, but witnesses at the scene said the bus did hit him.

EDIT: Seems it was a BU Student.

Authorities are investigating the facts surrounding the death of a 21-year-old bicyclist who was struck by a vehicle in Allston Monday night, officials said.

“Everybody is still out, and the investigation is still ongoing,” said Neva Coakley, a Boston Police Department spokeswoman.

The accident occurred at 6:36 p.m. on the corner of Brighton Avenue and Harvard Avenue, Coakley said.

News outlets report that the bicyclist was a Boston University student, although BU officials did not confirm this information.

EDIT: NPR Reports that the cyclist was hit by a bus driver, and that the driver may have not known that he hit a cyclist.

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Woman Killed In South Boston Identified As Tanya Connolly

From the Herald:

A woman in her mid-30s riding a bicycle home yesterday with a friend was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer in South Boston, police said.

Tanya Connolly of South Boston immigrated from Ireland 14 years ago, friends and family said. She had lived and worked in the city ever since.

“She was full of life,” said her distraught brother, Carl Connolly, who spoke briefly after he walked out of the police station on West Broadway, where witnesses were being interviewed. “She was the glue that held her friends together. She’s definitely going to be missed”

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Female Cyclist Killed In South Boston

(picture via)

“It appears the TT was turning left from A St on West Broadway when the accident occurred ”

More here.

Another in a series of horrific and tragic events…more information when I get it. I hate posting these things, we must do better at protecting cyclists. My thoughts go out to her friends and family.

————–

(via)

Boston Police Investigate Fatal Pedestrian Accident in the area of W. Broadway & A Streets in South Boston

At about 3:50pm, on Monday, September 17, 2012, officers from District C-6 (South Boston) responded to an accident involving a bicyclist and a tractor trailer truck in the area of W. Broadway & A Streets. On arrival, officers located a female victim suffering from what appeared to be life threatening injuries. The victim, who had been riding a bicycle, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The operator of the vehicle remained on the scene and did make his identity known to responding officers.

The Boston Police Department is actively investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident. No citations have been issued at this time.

More news here (warning graphic description of crash)

Update more video here

They reveal that it was a woman in her 30′s. Tragically young. (note they mention this website, it pains me greatly that this is the sort of event that draws reporters here, and not the hundreds of happy events that occur all year long. Be safe out there everyone).

more video here:

WHDH-TV –

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Male Cyclist Killed In Dorchester This Morning

In sad news a man was killed on his bicycle this morning, the herald reports.

State police say a 63-year-old man riding his bicycle along Morrissey Boulevard has been struck and killed by a vehicle.

Authorities say the victim was on the outbound side of the road at about 12:30 a.m. Friday when he was struck by a pickup truck.

The bicyclist was thrown from his bicycle and suffered severe injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

The pickup trucks driver, a 47-year-old man, called 911 for assistance and stayed at the scene. He was eventually taken to Boston Medical Center with minor injuries.

No names were immediately released.

The crash remains under investigation and no charges have been filed.

A sad day. My thoughts go out to his friends and family. More info when I get it. As always feel free to post details in the comments.

UPDATE:

The driver has been charged with drunk driving via DotNews:

Michael Ahern, 46, of Dorchester, is scheduled for arraignment today on charges he ran over and killed a man riding his bicycle down Morrissey Boulevard early Friday, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office reports.

Doan Bui, 63, was pronounced dead at the scene following the 12:30 a.m. crash near Malibu Beach.

According to DA Dan Conley’s office, Ahern was arrested at his Adams Corner home on Sunday after a State Police investigation. Ahern called 911 from the scene of the Morrissey Boulevard crash and remained there until police and EMTs arrived. Ahern was also transported to Boston Medical Center and released shortly thereafter.

Prosecutors will formally charge Ahern with motor vehicle homicide, operating under the influence of alcohol, operating to endanger and speeding.

Ahern is a well-known building contractor who — along with his wife— recently opened a new restaurant, The Sweet Life, in Lower Mills. Ahern has also been a key partner in another popular Lower Mills eatery, The Ledge.

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Kelsey Rennebohm Ghost Bike Install And Remembrance Ride Tomorrow

A few folks in the JP biking community are organizing a ghost bike install and rememberance ride around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir for Kelsey Rennebohm who was struck and killed by a bus last week with the support of Kelsey’s brother, who is also a bicyclist. (Please see Shane’s comprehensive coverage on Kelsey from earlier this week)

More info from the Facebook event page Please spread the word, and ride safe.

Huntington Ave & Forsyth St, Boston, MA 02115
Please join the greater Boston area bicycling community at Huntington and Forsyth at 8:15PM to place a Ghost Bike for Kelsey Rennebohm.

Following that, we’ll ride to Chestnut Hill Reservoir. Details on the ride are tentative and dependent on some logistics and scouting the planned area, so please check back soon.

Independent of your RSVP status on Facebook, we request you privately RSVP here for an approximate headcount for logistics: http://www.doodle.com/x4smimtinvs8dwn6

Attendance on the ride requires respectful, non-confrontational conduct and following traffic laws wherever possible; on multi-lane roads, please stick to the right-most travel lane, and leave some room on the left side both as a buffer from cars and for corkers to pass. We are in the process of seeking assistance from Boston, Brookline, and Northeastern Police.

Please have at least a front light – ideally front and rear lights.

The family is unable to attend but has requested that we record photos and video, and post descriptions of the ride for them to see. You are invited to share your photos, videos, and comments here, on youtube, etc.

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