Fatal Bicyclist Accident in Amherst

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By Matthew Campbell

Story Published: May 25, 2009 at 11:18 PM EDT

Story Updated: May 25, 2009 at 11:18 PM EDT

A 34 year old Amherst woman is dead after a car hits her just yards away from the flagship UMass campus.

Amherst police say the accident happened on University Drive in front of The Hangar restaurant at 10:30 Monday morning.

"The bike tire was all mangled up," says witness, Catrina Blake.

For hours, police had the gateway to the campus blocked as they investigated and cleaned up any traces of the fatal accident.

Police say the victim was riding her bike on University Drive when she was hit. She was taken to Cooley Dickinson where she later died.

"I got good markings. People aren't looking. I'll pull out. Someone will be right in front of me and then just take off," says Amherst biker Jonathan Moore, as he shows off his bike scars. All of them are from accidents on the roads.

"I even get tapped or if I go out of control, and I can't get my feet out of the way, I'm going down as soon as I hit the curb or the car. I've gone down about three times in this weekend alone," Moore says.

Narrow roads and heavy traffic make for a bad combination for many bikers.

"You're secondary to cars I think. Sometimes they don't pay attention to you," bicyclist Chris Moulton says.

But even the most aware drivers say it's not always their fault.

"You have to slow down because they're hogging the road. There's oncoming traffic that way. When they turn sometimes, you have to be aware," says Hadley driver Michael Maagero.

Drivers and bikers agree that awareness on both sides is key.

"That's the mindset you have to have on a bicycle all the time. You're going to lose if you go head to head with a car," says Andrew Cerow.

The victim's name isn't being released until her family is notified.

No arrests have been made in the crash as Amherst Police continue to investigate.

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ELmo said on Tuesday, Sep 29 at 5:38 PM

Second Accident in that general locale in a short time time - both involving cyclists. Seems like they need some Cycle lanes there.

Mel said on Wednesday, May 27 at 10:32 AM

Mr. Sick and Tired, While I'm sure there are many instances where bicyclists put themselves into harm's way by not following the laws, this was not the case here. The woman killed was my best friend and she was always cognizant of the rules and actively avoided vehicles when possible and in fact was on a side access road when this happened. The woman who hit her lost control of her vehicle and then left the scene after killing my friend.

Chris Hastings said on Tuesday, May 26 at 10:54 PM

As a bicyclist and fulltime EMT in Western Massachusetts, I am sick and tired of hearing about how it is always the motorist's fault. Bicycles are supposed to follow all of the same laws motorists have to follow, and many do not. Police need to start handing out more tickets for not signalling, running red lights and failure to use care and caution when exiting an intersection.

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