Everyone deserves to be able to get to where they need to go safely

Following the fatalities of two Pittsburgh children who were struck by drivers while riding bikes last week, we are sad to report that two more Pittsburghers who were riding bikes were critically injured by motorists in the area, one in Shaler and one in Brookline. Our hearts go out to all of these victims, and we are reminded that this could have been any of us. Update: On August 29th, the bicyclist who was hit on Rt 8, Danny Ramage, later died in the hospital from the injuries he sustained. According to an interview with his brother, Danny didn’t have a car or drivers license and relied on biking, walking and transit for transportation.

What we know about the recent crashes:

Both Rt 8 and Brookline Blvd are wide roads that encourage speeding. In 2019, Brookline Blvd itself was the location of the Austin Fike fatality, a young man struck by a drunk driver while riding his bike. Despite a redesign about a decade ago (before the City’s Complete Streets Policy was enacted), due to the wide lanes and speeding, there are still a large number of crashes and injuries involving drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists on the street leading to a listing on the Pittsburgh’s High Injury Network.

This is a harrowing reminder that there is still so much work to be done to calm traffic and make our streets safer for all. Pittsburgh area elected leaders need to fund life saving infrastructure so that all people, regardless of how they get around, can get to where they need to go without death or injury. We need to work together to keep the momentum going – to tell our elected officials how important funding is for bike/ped infrastructure, to get traffic calming in place so that our kids can play outside of their homes without fear of death, to make sure drivers know they have a huge responsibility to drive safely and within the speed limit. Lives literally depend on it. 

These crashes are preventable. 

Vehicle speed is one of the biggest factors in whether someone either walks away from a crash, or is seriously injured or dies. But when our infrastructure is designed for the swift movement of motor vehicles, at the expense of people outside of cars, tragedies like this are not only expected, but inevitable. 

This is why it’s so important to achieve Vision Zero in Pittsburgh

These recent crashes show why Mayor Gainey’s Vision Zero commitment is so important. We envision a time when fatal crashes and critical injuries on our streets are a thing of the past. That’s the “VISION” in VISION ZERO–  a vision of a city where we can all get to where we need to go whether we are walking, biking, rolling, taking the bus, and yes, even driving. A time where motor vehicle operators understand their weighted responsibility– over 4,000 pounds of responsibility– to not speed and to look out for their fellow Pittsburghers.