Cyclist Mourned, Mayor Vows 'Serious Look' At Notorious Stretch Of Road
BOSTON (CBS) - As a cold drizzle covered Boston on Monday, the friends of 28-year-old Boston College graduate student Kelsey Rennebohm gathered to remember her.
"Someone this morning described her as a light," says Amy Piepiora, one of about 40 friends who walked from Cleveland Circle to BC to honor Kelsey.
Rennebohm was killed when she was hit by an MBTA bus on Friday night while riding her bike on Huntington Ave.
"She was just a fantastic friend and colleague and we are all better because of her," says Piepiora.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports
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The MBTA is still investigating the crash that killed Kelsey Rennebohm.
In recent years, Huntington Ave. has been the scene of numerous bike accidents, including a handful of deadly ones.
"In that particular roadway there have been 3 incidents in the last (5) years," says Boston Mayor Tom Menino.
A big supporter of biking in Boston, Mayor Menino points out that Huntington doesn't have bike paths.
"We want to take a very serious look at what we can do there," says Menino.
But in a busy city like Boston with congested streets and a lot of traffic, how can drivers and cyclists co-exist? It's the constant struggle, cyclists versus drivers.
"A lot of the cars are pretty angry with a lot of the bikers, probably due to the aggressive nature in which they drive," says Nick Bruno, a college student who cycles often in the city.
But you don't have to look far to get the opposite view from drivers.
"It's actually really frustrating because a lot of times they'll come into the lane and will swerve right in front of you," says one Boston driver.
"In the city of Boston it's likely that there are several hundred accidents a year," says David Watson, the head of MassBike, the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition.
Fortunately, most of those crashes don't result in serious injuries or hospitalizations.
Watson points out that the city has accomplished a lot over the past several years as far as encouraging safe cycling. But he says two things are needed to make Boston safer; continued road improvements and more awareness from both cyclists and drivers.
"We're all people trying to get someplace and we all want to get there safely. That really how we should think about it," says Watson.
