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Bicyclist struck, killed by truck in Cambridgeport
By adamg on Wed, 03/11/2015 - 4:49pm
Cambridge Police report a bicyclist was struck and killed by a truck around 1:40 p.m. on Putnam Avenue between River and Pleasant streets.
Marcia Deihl, 65, a Cambridge singer and songwriter, was pronounced dead at the scene, police say. They add:
The operator of the vehicle remained at the scene of the accident and the driver is cooperating with investigators. No charges have been filed at this time.
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Comments
Those are really narrow low
Those are really narrow low speed residential streets without much traffic. How did this happen?
Texting
Driver was probably texting or updating facebook status.
OR...
Biker didn't stop for stop sign.
Speculating is fun!!!!
Or ...
The driver's and cyclist's guardian angels were BOTH texting ... each other! And they didn't intervene in time!
God is not pleased.
Whhheee ... anyone want to imagine anything crazier since we have no idea what happened?
She was a long time friend. I
She was a long time friend. I felt that your comment was insensitive This situation is not funny to those who knew and loved her.
Can we lose the
knee jerk "must have been texting" nonsense. It got really old three years ago.
I know, right??
And everybody has completely stopped texting behind the wheel since then.
Soon as we lose the knee jerk blame the cyclist nonsense
It might have gotten old three years ago but smart phone ownership has climbed each year, so the number of potential airhead drivers WITH phones is increasing too.
Nevermind smartphones, car manufacturers adding more and more gadgets and gizmos and touchscreens to distract you while driving. My friend had to tap through several layers of menus to bump up the heating the other day, he had to take his eyes off the road a number of times to accomplish this.
Sure, the distracted driver stuff is getting old.
A sad first day of spring
Lots of bicyclists and pedestrians out today. This intersection is quite bad for, well, for everyone because Pleasant Street doesn't have a stop sign and traffic comes barreling down Pleasant with parked cars on both sides and probably big snowbanks right now.
This intersection could certainly use an all-way stop sign; it would be much safer to cross for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Edit: it appears that it was on Putnam between Allston and Pleasant. My previous comments stand, and I'll add that trucks have no business on Putnam unless they're making local deliveries.
A lot more cyclists out today
I noticed today that motorists seemed a bit more aware of us than yesterday, but the roads are still in bad shape and narrowed and that makes sharing the space more complicated.
At least there is a lot less ice today than yesterday morning or Monday.
It would, of course, help a lot if Cambridge would crack down on parking such that they stick out into the travel lanes.
It would also help if Cambridge removed snow
Seriously, they've been the most atrocious of any municipality I've seen in Greater Boston.
worst?
Go to Newton. South Newton at least. Streets by the high school have been down to one lane since the first storm. Its a nightmare. Trash days or oil deliveries cause gridlock.
As a biker in Cambridge...
I've been appalled at what a terrible job they've done of clearing snow out of the bike lanes and street parking. Even on major streets you have problems where the street parking spots are full of snow, so cars park in the bike lane, so bikes have to ride in the road.
They don't clear bike lanes of snow
They like to pretend that the bike lanes are a roadway facility but they don't maintain them and haven't for years. Don't expect parity anytime soon, same of the few I've seen in NYC, they remain icy and untreated for weeks.
Take the lane. You have to fight for your right to the whole roadway.
I took the lane politely
I took the lane politely today. No fighting was necessary.
They sure do!
It's funny how one of the most progressive cities here in the Commonwealth has such god-awful snow removal policies. Ditto for the City of Newton, if that really be the case.
Sorry to hear about the biker who got hit and killed by a car! This has been happening a lot lately.
Just snow isn't enough
Clearing the snow alone isn't enough. The bike lanes are then filled with sand and other detritus left behind by polluting humans that are best avoided by bicyclists.
I'm looking at you Mass Ave Bridge heading into Boston *squinty eyes*.
***this coming from a non-bicyclist, one who mistrusts the majority of them thanks to the actions of a few.
I always assumed it was a 4
I always assumed it was a 4-way, until a speeding driver honked at me one day. It's hard to get a clear view of oncoming traffic. Considering how unnecessarily over-regulated the rest of Cambridge is traffic-wise, I'd think it'd be a no brainer to make this a 4 way stop.
Two quiet residential streets
Not the kind of place I'd expect this to happen.Edit: above comment rendered irrelevant by later correction to location
Unlikely location
While it's true that intersections are where altercations like this might be expected to happen, I'm very surprised that a fatality occurred at this particular intersection. I'll wait to hear more details before speculating any further about what happened, who might have been at fault, etc.
The Globe
said that the accident happened at Pleasant and River Sts. But maybe they are wrong? http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/11/fatal-pedestrian-crash-repor...
Article now says it occurred
Article now says it occurred on Putnam. That curve is so abismally plowed, it forces NW-bound traffic into the (blind) oncoming lane. If that's really where it was, it's been an accident waiting to happen. I feel for this poor woman's family.
Clarification
My guess is that the confusion regarding location comes from the fact that the altercation occurred on Putnam Ave. between Allston St. and Pleasant St. That's a whole 'nuther story. It just didn't seem plausible that a fatality would occur at the intersection of Allston and Pleasant. Now I'm very eager to hear more details about this tragedy.
Cambridge biker was 65 years old
Marcia Deihl was well known in the Cambridge music community.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TTFIZ6814jk/Umg0F6k5xKI/AAAAAAAABak/b2RMLJ_V2y...
https://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2015/02/13/centenarian-love-kiss-marcia-deihl
Marcia Deihl - One of a kind
I knew Marcia. She was one of the funniest people I knew around Cambridge - a really mischievous sense of humor. We were joking around on Facebook just hours before she died. She has MANY friends in and around Cambridge. There are a lot of people hurting really bad right now.
So sorry.
She sounds so great--old school Cambridge.
:-(
Really sorry for your loss.
the important thing is
the important thing is somebody lost their life...........who cares about a debate of bike lanes or texting......where do you folks live ....marcia deihl is gone ..period
The other important thing is
finding out why this happened, so it doesn't happen again to someone else at the same location.
Snow clearance around that curve has been horrible
You have to drive into oncoming traffic that can't really see you coming, and they can't see you.
Of course that doesn't stop your average Masshole from going around that curve at relatively high speed. It's always just a game of chicken.
But the city is at least partly to blame on this one.
Original post updated
With the correct location and the name of the bicyclist.
Our condolences
My wife was one of the first ppl on the scene, she saw what no one should see in their life. She is mentally scarred from this image, since she ran to help, but had to turn away from the gruesome image. She did not see the accident, but thinks the snow banks played a big role., the driver was in tears and shaken to the core. Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Marcia, she sounded like such a wonderful person and a true gem in the Cambridge community.
circumstances?
Terrible tragedy for all involved. But to prevent more it's useful to know how it happened. Was the truck turning or overtaking or something else?
This!
My heart goes out to the victim and her family, friends and fans.
Every time something like this happens, there's rampant speculation about what caused it, but only rarely am I able to find a follow-up with the results of the investigation. At different times, I'm a cyclist, pedestrian, and motorist, and also a citizen who sometimes writes to his elected representatives. I'd very much like to know how this and other fatal incidents happened, so I and others can take steps to prevent them from happening again.
She didn't see the actual accident
She came around from whole foods and saw the truck stopped and the driver was outside the phone with 911 crying, she saw the cyclist in between two snow banks halfway in the road, just behind the front tire, she ran to help but had to turn away, she was obviously dead, the discription is too hard to write about and inconsiderate so I will stop there. Again our thoughts are with her family.
When an MIT alum was killed
When an MIT alum was killed while cycling at Mass Ave and Vassar Street in 2011, there were news articles in the Tech when the police report was released, and local bike experts analyzed the articles and report. http://cambridgecivic.com/?p=1933