The bird suddenly became stiff, its neck straight and firm. As it fell to the ground, it looked like the yellow duck my son used to play with in his bath. Perhaps it was in shock; more likely it was already dead.
A second bird flew up and away to safety.
A second bird flew up and away to safety.
It’s amazing how quickly a life can move from free flight, in the midst of a bird-crazy game of swooping dangerously close to traffic, to complete stiffness, a lifeless body bobbing in the road between speeding cars like a ball gradually losing its bounce.
We don’t often witness such a quick death. It makes us catch our breath and realize how very fragile we all are after all.
Jacqueline Robinson met her end in a tragic encounter with a car, too. According to a story in The Detroit Free Press, the 40-year old Detroit woman was riding her bicycle in the wee hours of September 19 when a car struck and killed her before driving away.
Now, Robinson’s life is memorialized at the roadside by a mountain bike, pained ghost-white and draped with a little sign revealing her name and the date she died. No one has claimed responsibility for the “Ghost Bike,” but the paper reports it is part of a quiet movement meant to expose tragic car versus bicycle deaths on roads that were meant for us all.
On Freep.com, Handyman2112 posted his thoughts:
“…those very roads that we're supposed to share with the bicyclists are built
and maintained by the taxes that we drivers pay on every gallon of gas that we
buy. What do the bicyclists contribute? Maybe there should be a road tax on
those fruity-looking body suits they all wear.”
RunAndBike countered:
“To all of the ignorant and arrogant posters regarding bikes sharing the road,
please brush up on the Michigan Vehicle Code. Bicycles are considered vehicles
and have a right to occupy a FULL LANE of the road if they choose (unless posted
and prohibited).”
The arguments go back and forth for quite a few comment pages, if you care to read on.
What’s your view? Do bicyclists deserve to fear for their lives when they share the roads? Are we Detroiters so in love with our cars that sharing the road just isn’t an option? Is it a right, or a privilege, to drive freely, without consideration for those who are smaller and more vulnerable?
And is it really about car versus bike, or something a whole lot bigger?
I imagine that Jacqueline Robinson’s family is missing her. What can we do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?
Photo by Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press
1 comment:
Claire, I'm also a cyclist, and my heart goes out to this woman's family.
And I appreciate the reminder that bikes and cars DO share the road. I'm also thinking that we all need to remember to wear helmets, appropriate clothing, and to use lights on our bikes at night. Thanks for this thoughtful post.
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