We are heartbroken that a young cyclist on the East Bay Bike Path was struck and killed by a motorist yesterday.
Tragically, drivers have killed two other children in this area previously: A 12 year-old in 1998 at the intersection of Poppasquash and Hope and an 11 year-old in 1982 who was walking her bike across Hope Street.
These incidents have repeatedly shown that this area is unsafe for cyclists, and we believe that as a minimum a stop sign for vehicle traffic should be installed at Poppasquash and E Bay Bike Path. As such, we encourage people in the community to contact RIDOT and Gina Raimondo’s office to ask that measures be taken to make this crossing safer.
The issue of bicycle and pedestrian safety should also be examined more broadly in this area and across the state of Rhode Island.
Children represent some of our most vulnerable road users, and the social license that we give to automobile users has resulted in countless deaths of children over the last 100 years. It is imperative that we address pedestrian and cyclist safety in our infrastructure decisions to prevent more needless and tragic deaths.
A previous version of this statement incorrectly directed people to contact leaders in Bristol to ask for infrastructure improvements to make the crossing at Poppasquash road safer. This crossing is under State jurisdiction. We have updated our statement to reflect this.