ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — In the last two weeks, two Rocky River Middle School students were involved in bike versus car accidents.
The first accident happened along Hilliard Boulevard at a pedestrian crossing.
A week later, the second accident happened along Westway Drive and Northview Road. That student walked away with a few scrapes. But the other was sent to a nearby hospital to recover. The students were on their way to and from school.
One driver has been cited. A citation is still pending for the other.
"I was saddened and a little bit frightened for everybody, including myself," Mehul Gala, a local cyclist, said. "It's scary. I've had friends who have been killed by motorists while they've been on their bicycles."
Gala was involved in an accident while riding his bike. Now, he is one of several people in the community with safety concerns.
Now, the schools, police, and city are joining forces to prevent even more accidents.
"I think that's why the reaction is so immediate," Rocky River Police Chief George Lichman said. "Because we are surprised when these things happen, because they are so rare."
The officials are starting with education. Public service announcements have been shared with students and their families. The city is educating the wider community through social media.
"The key thing to this is education," Rich Snyder, the city's Director of Public Works and Safety, said. "Educating our drivers. Educating our students and our pedestrians."
Cyclists like Gala are looking for something more.
"We'd like to see more traffic calming measures and activities put into place in our city to prevent these kinds of accidents or these crashes from happening in the future," he said.
Gala also suggested dedicated bike lanes along busy streets and lowering the speed limit along popular bike routes. Traffic cushions have already been installed in some Rocky River neighborhoods, and Gala said they seem to be helping.
Snyder said the city had been working long before the two accidents to put more traffic-calming measures in place.
He said more of these measures are on the way.
"All of these things that we are working on to try and slow things down in these neighborhoods are very important," he said.
All agree that the measures can keep everyone, not just cyclists and drivers, safe.
"Our schools are a part of the Rocky River community," Adham Schirg, Rocky River City Schools Superintendent, said. "The community is a part of our school, so the way that we look at it is that school safety and community safety are one and the same. When we make safer schools, that means we are going to have a safer community. When we have a safer community, we are going to have safer schools."
