Changes sought at site of crash
Advocates: Location of two cycling deaths needs improvement
A Houston bicycle safety advocacy group called on city leaders this week to improve a Rice University-area intersection where two cyclists were killed in crashes since February 2017.
On Tuesday, a female bicyclist was killed by a dump truck while turning from Sunset onto Main.
“This could have been preventable,” said BikeHouston spokesman Ivan Fuentes. “With better design and action, we wouldn’t even have to be talking about this.”
The nonprofit plans to go before City Council on Tuesday to urge improvements where Sunset intersects with Main and Fannin, right at the entrance of Rice.
City officials, calling the crash tragic, added that improvements to the crossing are already underway. The city has approved a conceptual design to fix the intersection but is waiting on a final design before construction can begin, city spokeswoman Alanna Reed said.
“In an ideal world, there’s no bike fatalities or car accidents either,” Reed said. The Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority “and the city are definitely working together on intersection safety throughout Houston.”
One of the projects would prevent traffic on Sunset from con-
tinuing eastbound to Fannin and instead direct drivers to turn on Main, Reed said.
Metro and the city began looking at altering the intersection after popular Rice University scientist Marjorie Corcoran, 66, died while biking there Feb. 3, 2017.
Corcoran, 66, was struck by a Metro light rail train while riding her bicycle near Hermann Park. She was heading toward the campus about 8:15 a.m. when she crossed over the southbound tracks along the 6300 block of Fannin near Sunset. Corcoran was pronounced dead at the scene.
The woman killed on Tuesday was meeting her husand at Rice University, where he works.
Both she and the driver of the dump truck had a green light at the time of the crash, said Assistant Chief Wendy Baimbridge, who heads the Patrol Region 3 Command at the Houston Police Department. The dump truck was making a right turn off Sunset to go south on Main, while the cyclist entered into the intersection on a crosswalk and was struck by the right back tire of the truck.
Because she was in the road at the time of the crash, the cyclist might have been at fault in the accident, Baimbridge said.
“Cyclists have to abide by all the laws of motorists when they’re on the street, so at that point — it sounds like it could change, again this is under investigation — but the cyclist would be at fault considering that,” Baimbridge said.
Fuentes disputed the cyclist would have been responsible, considering that Texas law prohibits people from riding bicycles on sidewalks only in business districts, he said.
Houston’s bicyclists are also protected by the “vulnerable road users,” which requires motorists allow an appropriate amount of space between them before they turn in front of them.
The city should take the latest crash as a cue that something needs to be done on Sunset, Main and Fannin, Fuentes said.
“It’s unfortunate that (improvements) didn’t come sooner where it could have possibly prevented this crash,” Fuentes said. “Hopefully now they move faster in order to prevent any further from happening as a result of this poor design.”
The city is going to continue working with motorists, bicyclists and law enforcement on bicycle safety issues in Houston, including the vulnerable users law, Reed said.
“No one is exempt, and we are all responsible for each other’s safety,” she said.