McKeesport, PA : Cyclist killed in West Carson Street collision was riding for his health Tuesday, August 30th, 2016
Dennis Flanagan rode for his health and his daughter.
He tried to bike 10 miles every day after a high blood pressure diagnosis convinced him to take better care of himself. He wanted to be sure he'd see his daughter graduate high school.
“He had a heart the size of Texas,” his sister Amy Lourenco, 40, of North Planfield, N.J., said. “He loved his family, and he adored his daughter.”
Flanagan, 49, of McKees Rocks died Tuesday following an accident with an SUV on West Carson Street during what was his final bike ride.
His daughter Corra Flanagan is 16.
The crash happened about 3 p.m. on West Carson at the West Busway, closing the roadway for more than two hours. Paramedics rushed Flanagan to the hospital in critical condition; he died shortly before 6 p.m., officials said. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Wednesday he died from blunt and crushed injuries to the head, chest and extremities and that his death was an accident.
The crash rekindled concerns about biking safety in Pittsburgh. Advocacy group BikePGH on Wednesday held a bicycle ride, which organizers described as a “protest of preventable traffic deaths and in support of safer streets.”
The ride started after a PennDOT public meeting about upcoming pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements to Forbes Avenue in Oakland. State officials discussed roughly $10 million in improvements from the Birmingham Bridge through Carnegie Mellon University's campus.
The work, scheduled to be bid out in November 2017 with construction beginning in 2018, includes repaving, upgrading traffic signals and installing bike lanes in several areas.
The project will be funded primarily with state and federal funds, PennDOT officials said. CMU will contribute money, too.
A few pedestrians and bicyclists at the meeting applauded the plans. Others said they didn't go far enough to ensure safety and called for more, including measures to better control motor vehicle speed and further distinguish proposed bike lanes from motor vehicle lanes.
PennDOT District 11 Executive Director Dan Cessna said improving bicycle and pedestrian safety in Pittsburgh is difficult, but PennDOT works with the city and the Port Authority of Allegheny County to be as adaptable as possible.
“I've had many times when I bike and a car comes and nearly brushes my knee,” said Rich Keitel, 55, a BikePGH member, who bikes from Squirrel Hill to his job Downtown every day. “It was just such a tragedy what happened on West Carson Street yesterday.”
Family members believe Flanagan was returning home from the South Side docks when the crash occurred. Lourenco said he loved being at the docks and loved the water.
“He decided he needed to take better care of himself,” she said. “He decided this was one of the ways he was going to get healthy.”
The driver of the SUV involved in the accident remained on the scene after the crash, Emily Schaffer, a Public Safety spokeswoman, said Wednesday.
BikePGH will sponsor a ride in memory of Flanagan at 7 p.m. Sept. 6. It will start at South 27th Street and Tunnel Boulevard and conclude at the South Side Works Healthy Ride Station.
Source :
Cyclist killed in West Carson Street collision was riding for his health