Updated: Traffic Violence Report: First Bicycle Death, Two Auto Fatalities
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This report was updated at 3:19 pm to reflect more recent data.
From the Denver Police Department:
- Bicyclist Scott Hendrickson died after a driver hit him Friday in the Valverde neighborhood. Charges are pending.
- Joshua Rosendale died after crashing his motorcycle into a fixed object while merging from East 6th Avenue onto northbound Interstate 25 on Thursday.
- Daniel Heredia-Macias died in an auto rollover on Colorado at Dartmouth July 7.
Hendrickson is the first bicyclist to die on Denver’s streets in 2019, compared to three cyclist fatalities at roughly the same point last year. These deaths bring the total number of traffic fatalities on Denver streets to 43.
The city’s Vision Zero goal to achieve zero traffic fatalities or serious injuries will be an “urgent” priority in Mayor Hancock’s third and last term, he told Streetsblog yesterday, after mentioning the goal in his inauguration speech.
“… we must continue to strive for greater safety, with more measures implemented to reduce speeds and reduce conflicts between modes, so fewer and fewer people, until we reach zero, are losing their lives on our streets,” he said in the speech.
When Streetsblog asked about the street safety advocates who hope he will use his final term to carry out the city’s Vision Zero action plan dramatically faster, he cautioned that he would consider neighborhood concerns but said that he intends to move forward with critical street design changes that will enhance safety.
“You don’t waste a third term to expedite, to do things more boldly,” he said. “But you have to be thoughtful about it as well.”
