POSTED: 10:40 pm EDT July 2, 2010

Twenty years ago, Bicycling Magazine named Pittsburgh as one of the three worst bicycling cities in the country.

Fast forward to present day and the city and Allegheny County have repeatedly been recognized as bicycle friendly, but a deadly accident involving a bicyclist in late May proves that there’s still a long way to go.

A white “ghost bike” was placed at the accident scene along Harts Run Road in Indiana Township where 52-year-old bicyclist Donald Parker was hit by a pickup truck. Parker died in a hospital a few hours later.

Bricker told Wiggin that when he first moved back to Pittsburgh nine years ago, not a week went by without someone in a car yelling at him on the road. He said he now goes about a month between verbal lashings.

Police said the teenage driver was trying to untangle flip-flops that got stuck in the truck’s pedals when the accident happened.

“Distracted driving makes it more dangerous for everybody, not just cyclists. But, certainly, as we like to say, cyclists are lower on the food chain,” said Pittsburgh police Officer Matt Lackner.

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