Last Week: Motorists Killed One Bicyclist, Injured Two More on Denver Streets
Another week, another life lost to traffic violence in Denver.
Early Sunday morning, a motorist struck and killed Xavier Fretard biking while he biked near Speer Boulevard and Downing Street. The driver fled, but was found a few blocks later. Charges are pending, according to the Denver Police Department.
Motorist Tanner Reid, 21, killed a pedestrian, Silvia Miramontes, on June 13 near Little Raven Street and 15th Street. But Denver PD failed to report that fatality last week.
Drivers have now killed three people on bikes this year. Since 2005, the city has averaged two bicyclist fatalities a year, according to Denver PD data.
Drivers also injured two people riding bikes and one person walking between June 18 and June 24, according to the Denver Police Department. One motorcyclist and three people in cars were injured in that time period.
In all, Denver PD responded to 446 crashes in the seven-day span.
With this series, we aim to remind politicians, transportation officials, local media, and the public that the cost of inaction on traffic safety policies is extremely high. The longer it takes to redesign our car-centric streets, the more people will get hurt or killed.
The Hancock administration and Denver PD still lack a protocol for alerting the public to serious traffic collisions and tallying them accurately, despite the mayor’s ostensible commitment ending traffic deaths, announced more than two years ago. Hopefully documenting this information, gathered from Denver PD reports, will help drive change from decision-makers and elevate the profile of this public health crisis.
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