Yet another person riding a bicycle was killed in the Twin Cities yesterday. This person was killed by a vehicle driver at N 12th St and Linden Ave in Downtown Minneapolis. A box truck driver, who was towing construction equipment, made a right turn and collided with the bicyclist.
Rush hour traffic on N 12th St between Chestnut Ave and Linden Ave. On November 20, 2019, a person on a bike was killed by a person driving a truck, just ahead of where this photo was taken. (July 16, 2019. Photo: Henry Pan)
It’s not the first time that a person died at that intersection because they were involved in a vehicle crash. The City of Minneapolis reports that at least one person was either killed or severely injured at that intersection between 2007 and 2016.
We don’t know any more details of the crash as of this writing. We do know that there is a painted bike lane. I’ve used that bike lane coming from the farmers’ market on weekends. I’ve also ridden it on weekdays, when I’ve seen drivers drive on the bike lane in an attempt to get on 394 during rush hour.
Some Minnesotans have had enough. “Paint doesn’t protect lives,” says Risa Hustad of Minneapolis. “It’s not enough to have connected bikeways in the city; we need to change the way we look at road sections and show that we matter.” This is why they and two other activists are organizing a human protected bike lane tomorrow (Friday, November 22) from 4pm to 6pm 4:30pm to 6:30pm.
If you are interested, please join “Safe Streets Save Lives” at 12th and Linden, where you can help form a human-protected bicycle lane for people riding bikes on 12th Street. Risa and their team have more details on a Facebook event.