The Tampa Tribune reported on Monday that an unknown man on a bicycle trying to cross U.S. 41 at Crystal Lake Road died early Sunday morning after he pulled in front of a northbound Ford Fusion. The Ford then struck and killed the bicyclist.
The death marks the fifth cyclist in Hillsborough killed in 2012 alone, and the seventh in 86 days, going back to Christmas Eve. And it comes as the Bike/Pedestrian Advisory Committee in Hillsborough County is poised to go forward in implementing a safety plan that would include offering lights for cyclists to put on the front and back of their bikes.
That's crucial, because many of these fatalities have occurred at night, and some of the cyclists did not have or were not using lights on their rides at the time of the accidents.
This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2012.