Another Cyclist Killed in Louisville

Sad news from the Courier Journal. Another cyclist has been killed by a motorist in Louisville.

A bicyclist killed after being struck by a truck Thursday has been identified as Virgil Lee Bishop.

Bishop, 49, of the 5000 block of Quail Court, died at the scene of the accident of multiple blunt force injuries, said Jack Arnold, a deputy Jefferson County coroner.

Bishop was killed just after 9 p.m. while he was riding on Poplar Level Road near Bishop Lane. He was hit by a truck traveling south on Poplar Level.

Arnold said the cyclist was struck when he swerved in front of the truck while trying to cross Poplar Level.

By my count this is the third cyclist killed in the last 18 months, the first of which was an employee of my company who was biking to work in the dark and was killed about 1 mile from our business park. The second death was a few months ago, a participant in a local race who was killed by a drunk driver.

There are a couple difficult points to be made here. The first is that parts of Louisville are indeed bike friendly. We have sidewalks through plenty of areas and we even have a designated bike lane downtown. Unfortunately the 1st and 3rd recent deaths occurred outside of designated biking areas, at night, on busy roads. So while motorists certainly have a responsibility to watch out for cyclist, there are limits to what can be avoided when bikers are not careful.

Another aspect of this story is the reality that two of these deaths were not people who were riding their bikes to be green or for their health. They were people without cars who chose bikes over public transportation. I’m not sure what made them take that option but they chose it nonetheless. Maybe biking gave them slightly more flexibility or maybe it enabled them to save a little money that would have been spent on bus fare. Whatever the case, let’s hope this series of needless deaths comes to a close soon.