Bad news, better odds
The following is the Editor's Letter that appeared in the September 2011 issue of the print magazine. I begin this column deflated, having just learned that a seventh cyclist has been killed in Wisconsin this year. Actually, that’s seven slain just since July 1. Few details were available as of press time, but according to initial news reports, at about 6 p.m. on Friday, August 12, Daniel Cady, 62, was pedaling across a busy city street in Fond du Lac when he was struck by a motor vehicle. Cady’s death follows most closely those of Devin Kunich, 22, in Pleasant Prairie at 12:30 a.m., August 7, and David Landgraf, 62, near Stone Lake on the evening of August 5. For the silent sports community, the too oft-repeated tragedy that befell Landgraf was compounded by the knowledge he was one of only three skiers to complete all 38 American Birkebeiners. In fact, he finished the 50K ski race amongst the top 100 finishers twice. A retired Bloomer phys ed teacher, Landgraf was a member of the Eau Claire Ski Striders Club and worked as a ski instructor at Telemark Lodge in Cable. An appropriate memorial to Landgraf has yet to be determined, said Ned Zuelsdorff, executive director of the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. “He was a cherished part of our Birkie family and the cross-country skiing community, and we will miss him,” Zuelsdorff said in a statement. A report by the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Department indicates 24-year-old Anna Amparo of Hayward was driving south on Highway 27 about 6:40 p.m. when she turned to speak to her children in the backseat. When she turned back to the road ahead and saw Landgraf, it was too late to avoid striking him. Amparo was cited, according to the report, but the specific traffic violation was not listed, as Tom Held, reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, noted. After the crash that killed Kunich, Kenosha County prosecutors charged 18-year-old Quashae D. Taylor with felony negligence. According to the criminal complaint, obtained by Held, Taylor told an investigator she had closed her eyes for a second before crashing into something that smashed her windshield. Her cellphone call log indicates she received three calls at the time of the collision. Kunich, with reflectors but no lights on his bike, was leaving work at the Bristol Renaissance Fair. In both of these cases, and in at least two of the other fatal crashes this summer, the cyclists were struck from behind. No charges have been filed in any of the four crashes prior to Kunich’s, as Held has grimly reminded readers. (Incidentally, still no charges or citations have been issued as a result of the crash that killed popular bike shop owner and racer Jeff Littmann in Waukesha County last October. That case, in which Littmann was hit from behind by a 25-year-old man who told sheriff’s deputies the sun was in his eyes, is still under review by the district attorney, according to Held.) How we react The numerous comments left by online readers of these tragic news stories are quick to assign blame. If it’s not drivers distracted by their cell phone conversations, fast food consumption or actual intoxication, it is bicyclists who run stop signs and have the audacity to ride on roads instead of segregated bike paths. We can only hope that these nasty exchanges between anonymous typists serve as a safety valve, reducing instances of actual road rage. The truth is, many cyclists who experience close calls on the roads wish they could confront the motorists who nearly snuff them out. I suspected as much when I asked, via the Silent Sports Facebook page, if anyone had been able to ask a driver who passed within inches or cut them off “What were you thinking?” Of those who managed to chase down a driver, most recounted getting into wholly unsatisfying shouting matches. My question was prompted by an experience I had a few weeks ago in which I got buzzed by a roofing truck and nearly knocked off my bike by its rearview mirror. A couple minutes later, I came upon the truck parked in a driveway. Hopped up on righteous anger and adrenaline, I laid into the driver. I confess I did not keep my language clean. Unable to verbally spar with me as he was within earshot of the homeowner who hired his services, the driver first said he didn’t see me then said the sun was in his eyes. Either way, he had no business passing me from behind with mere inches to spare. Well, I made sure he saw me yelling at him. In retrospect, I was grateful to be alive to yell at all. That truck driver will either remember me as a cyclist he’s thankful he didn’t kill or merely as a Lycra-clad lunatic. I don’t care which, really. I just hope he remembers me and thinks better of buzzing another cyclist. There is one thing I am thankful I did immediately after that encounter: I fearlessly got back on my bike and continued my ride. At nearly the same place where the truck nearly hit me, another driver waited patiently a good distance behind until I coasted to the bottom of the hill and rounded the corner. Then he or she passed me while ensuring there was ample room between us. As terrible as it is that seven people have lost their lives over the past few months while cycling in this state, it would be a worse situation if these few cases scared a large number of people off their bikes. Dave Schlabowske, communications director for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, pointed out in a recent “Over The Bars” blog post that the number of Wisconsinites riding bikes has actually increased every year for more than a decade. And as more than 2.5 million people now bike here, only 10 are killed annually on average. I recommend everyone read the blog post Schlabowske wrote after Landgraf’s death, titled, “We can be the change we want to see.” After the recent spate of bad news, it will lift your spirits. In the mean time, whether you’re behind the wheel or gripping handlebars, please be careful out there.