Bicycle Accident Leads to Death
Ivan Arturo Aguilar who was just twenty-one years old was hit by a car while he was riding his bicycle on February 28, 2013 just before 1 o’ clock in the afternoon. The accident happened on Kellogg near South Campus Drive. Ivan, the communications major sadly died later that day at the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.
His death has brought some attention to the campus at Cal Poly Pomona. Several other students who bicycle on the campus say that this has been a troublesome issue for a while. Some even claim that student safety along the Kellogg Drive has been ignored by the Administration at the University.
Just 10 days before Ivan’s death, a Cal Poly Professor suggested that the campus should acquire some bike lanes. He also suggested some “other traffic calming strategies should be employed.”
Ivan’s death has caused some change at the campus. Almost a year has passed since his death and the University has opened a new bike path. This new path stretches from the rear of the Bronco Student Center, through a group of student dorms, and it ends at Parking Lot B.
The path provides a much safer way into the campus interior. This path is something that will fit into the university’s plan for evolving the campus.
Spokeswomen speaks about the Bicycle Accident
These changes aren’t necessarily a reflection of any one thing that happened
Whatever the reasoning for the bike path, it is a welcome addition to the campus.
Professor Loyd gives his opinion on the situation
I’ve used it a number of times in the past couple of weeks. As you probably noticed, it is well-marked and does offer cyclists a safe route from lot B to the center of campus,It’s a welcome first step in making the campus more bike-friendly.
Some of the University Officials have stated that they intend to make some “dramatic improvements” and that they would be expensive and difficult to do.
The University President, J. Michael Ortiz has stated that the university is developing new bicycle polices and looking for ways to improve pedestrian safety on the campus. The University has even begun to restrict some automobile traffic on some of the streets.
So far the bike path is the only real change they’ve made, however there is always potential for more change and improvement.
Unfortunately, almost all the streets leading to campus still lack any kind of safe bike infrastructure, so it would be nice if there were some bike lanes on those streets so that students and faculty could ride their bikes safely to campus.
Daniel A. Gibalevich
DAG Law Firm
