CLEVELAND — An investigation is underway after a bicyclist was struck and killed in Cleveland on Wednesday morning.
Cleveland police say a truck struck the bicyclist near West 114th Street and Franklin Boulevard just before 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
EMS pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
The Cleveland Police Department said the driver who hit the bicyclist remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation.
“I’ve seen a lot of close calls, and something needs to change at this intersection,” said Samantha Touarti, a woman who lives nearby.
Touarti said the intersection where the deadly accident happened has been problematic for years.
“It’s common for people to speed through a red light. I’ve had people go around me when I’m stopped at a red light just to run it, and it happens all the time,” Touarti said.
Touarti is not alone in her frustration; bikers also voiced concerns about the industrial area.
“It’s dangerous. Look around — you don’t see anything but warehouses and trucks,” said a bicyclist who wished to remain anonymous.
The anonymous biker added that this area of the west side has become a cyclist’s worst nightmare.
“There’s no real road for us here, you know? And at nighttime, there’s no light,” the bicyclist said.
These issues are part of a larger problem, according to bike advocates who say essential infrastructure is lacking throughout Cleveland.
“You're in a 2,000-pound-plus vehicle, and someone on a bike has no protection,” said Jacob VanSickle, executive director of Bike Cleveland, a bike advocacy group.
VanSickle went on to say that Cleveland is lagging behind other cities when it comes to cyclist safety.
“We need streets that are safe for people outside of motor vehicles — people who are biking and walking. To achieve that, we need more protected bike lanes and more traffic calming measures in our neighborhoods,” said VanSickle.
This summer, the City of Cleveland is rolling out its five-year multimodal transportation plan, which aims to update a nearly 20-year-old biking network. VanSickle emphasized the urgency of these updates.
“We can’t wait for plans; we need changes on the ground now to prevent tragedies like this from happening,” VanSickle said.