In the last few weeks, two students in two different states were run over by garbage trucks while riding bicycles near campus. Both young women tragically died.
- On October 28, 2016, a University of Florida student was run over by a WCA Waste Corporation garbage truck while she was riding her bicycle. According to police, she was riding near the University when she was hit by the garbage truck when it was turning right.
- A similar accident happened in September when a Texas A&M student who was riding a bike was killed by a College Station garbage truck. That accident happened at the corner of Ayrshire and Angus in College Station, Texas.
A similar wrongful death accident also happened at the University of Minnesota a few years ago. The life of a talented, young woman was cut short when a truck driver hit her as she road her bicycle in the bike lane next to motorized vehicle traffic. The driver said he had not seen her before he turned right at an intersection and struck her. Attorney Fred Pritzker represented the family. As an avid cyclist who bikes to work when possible, Fred had experienced first-hand how some drivers of garbage trucks, dump trucks and semi-trailers are not watching for bicycle traffic.
In and around a University, even the University of Minnesota in the winter, there are students riding bicycles. More needs to be done to keep them safe. At the U of M, bicycle signs are now posted on roadways, alerting drivers to the need to drive safely. It was the family we represented that worked to have that done.
Sources:
http://www.winknews.com/2016/10/28/student-from-englewood-killed-in-dump-truck-crash-neer-uf/
http://www.kagstv.com/news/local/bicyclist-killed-in-accident-involving-cs-garbage-truck/315572767