A 15 mph speed limit is a good idea on crowded bike paths. There was a bad crash two days ago on the Cherry Creek bike path in Denver. The original article in the Denver Post is behind a fire wall but here are some excerpts:
A bicyclist is in critical condition and riders across Denver are talking about safety on the Cherry Creek Trail after a high-speed, head-on crash there Tuesday night. Multiple witnesses said a young woman cyclist crossed the dividing line of the two-way cycling trail, putting her in the path of an oncoming male cyclist at full speed. The man was William Latimer, 55, of Westminster, according to his brother. The collision was so severe, Latimer had no pulse and wasn’t breathing after the crash, according to a physician assistant who had been riding on the trail and stopped. Latimer regained his pulse and resumed breathing but remained unconscious after CPR was performed by the physician assistant, who declined to be identified, and another civilian.
On most days Cherry Creek is a mix of speedy athletes, casual riders and pedestrians — a situation that one cyclist called the Interstate 25 of bicycles. In recent weeks, city rangers have used radar guns to enforce the 15 mph speed limit on the two-lane path, part of a safety campaign that rankled some of the path’s users. On Tuesday night, though, that message had terrible resonance.
Ian Fish, who also administered CPR, said he heard but didn’t see the entire crash. The young woman and another cyclist were riding eastbound, he said. “I heard a sound that sounded like the pedals clipping (into each other). She immediately went across the center divider and entered into a head-on with the guy who was traveling westbound,” said Fish, a regular cyclist on the path. “He was facedown, and it sounded like gurgling, so I figured he was choking on his blood.” Another witness, 17-year-old Tori Ruatain, said she saw the collision from about 200 feet away. Latimer had been passing other bikes at a fast clip, she said, but was in his own lane at the time of the crash. “She swerved a little bit into his lane, and then it was head-on,” she said.
By phone, medical officials guided Fish and the physician assistant through chest compressions and rescue breaths on Latimer. The other cyclist suffered a bloody gash to her forehead. She sobbed in pain as witnesses tended to her.