Hundreds cycle for safety

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Riding in packs from City Hall, hundreds of cyclists converged on the State Capitol Thursday night to kick start yet another call for cyclist safety on the roads.

Among those on two wheels was Rick Ford.  Ford knows firsthand how cyclists sharing the road with motorists can end in tragedy.  Ford's good friend Andrew Runciman was killed while riding his bike on South Lamar in April 2011 .  Police are still looking for the hit and run driver.

"My friend's death was really hard on me," explained Ford.

There were no bikes lanes on that stretch of South Lamar at the time and none have been put in since the accident.

"We don't really know the state of mind of the driver that hit him.  I think there was definitely a chance had there been bike lanes that he would have been in them and that he could very well be alive today," Ford added.

But for the bulk of the riders out, it is not Runciman's death pushing them to peddle on but the twelve cyclist and motorist involved accidents so far this year.  On April 23, Evan Baird, 22, was mowed down by a motorist and spend a few days in the hospital.  He was riding is bike along Guadalupe Street when he was struck.

On April 28, cyclist Verter Ginestra, 55, was struck and killed near the intersection of loop 360 and Westbank Drive in Southwest Austin .

As Austin's population continues to surge, there will be more cyclists and motorists sharing the roads in years to come. 

Lisa Hinely has lived near the North Lamar Corridor for almost ten years and sees an immediate need to improve pedestrian safety in the area.

An estimated 38,000 cars cruise through the area daily and there are few crosswalks and no bike lanes.

Hinley chairs the North Lamar Combined Neighborhood Plan Team which covers the part of northeast Austin bordered by 183, Interstate 35, Braker Lane and Lamar Boulevard.

Group members hope to implement a neighborhood plan that achieves the following goals:

• a safe, healthy, and well-maintained neighborhood that promotes and preserves the quality of life for both residents and business-owners.
• healthy, sustainable, functional, quality, safe, and beautiful parks and green spaces that provide opportunities for cultural interactions.
• pedestrians, motorists, transit users, bicyclists, and mobility-impaired neighbors traveling safely and efficiently throughout the neighborhood and to the rest of the city.
• infrastructure that upholds the safety of residents and property- and business-owners.
• a well-balanced land use pattern that benefits everybody in the neighborhood by assigning appropriate land uses to particular properties.

"There's just a lot of things here," said Hinley.  "There are people on bikes.  There's people on foot and there are buses and they run into each other."

Hinley hopes $34 million in bond money will be used to make the area safer.  The plan calls for the installation of crosswalks and bike lanes.  She also wants to see street reconstruction and more pedestrian improvements.

"When people get hit up here, it is usually someone from the area that hits them.  So, even us knowing how congested it is, it is just that dangerous," Hinley said.

The installation of bike lanes, however, won't bring back Ford's beloved friend.  Ford told KXAN News his goal now is to make a difference in how people look at this issue.

"It is like cyclists against drivers and it really shouldn't be that way.  It should be people around people.  I am not a cyclist, I am a person trying to get somewhere," he explained.

Ford still hopes the driver who took his friend's life will come forward. Anyone with any information in the case is urged to call the Austin Police Department.