Vigil for Bicyclist

media release: In the early morning of Tuesday, a person riding a bicycle on Mineral Point Road was killed by an intoxicated driver. Madison Bikes asks the community to join us for a vigil for the deceased from 7:30 to 8 AM. The vigil will be held near the site of the crash, on Mineral Point Road at Ganser Way. A “ghost bike” in memory of the deceased will be installed during the vigil.

The crash on Tuesday was the first death of a cyclist in Madison in 2022, but every traffic death is one too many. This death is especially tragic, as it happened during Madison Bike Week, which is supposed to be a celebration of biking. Mineral Point Road has been identified by the city as a part of the high-injury network – roads and intersections in Madison where there is a disproportionate number of serious and fatal crashes.

We call on the city to immediately improve the safety of Mineral Point Road and other dangerous roads. Improvements for Mineral Point Road are planned as part of the bus rapid transit project, but in light of the crash, we need to revisit if those changes are sufficient to protect people walking, rolling, and biking. Says Harald Kliems, president of Madison Bikes: “This death involved a drunk driver. It is easy to think of this as a tragic accident, caused by somebody’s bad decision. But we strongly believe that the only way to stop traffic death and injury is by taking a systems perspective: Everybody makes mistakes. We need to build streets that are forgiving of those mistakes and do not result in death and injury.”