For nearly 15 months, a mangled bike frame hung in Dave Matthews' garage, a vivid reminder of the day an 86-year-old man plowed his Buick into him, smashing his face..
Then around 7:30 a.m. on April 30, having just finished an 18-mile ride with a bunch of buddies in Decatur, he received an email. A local cyclist had been killed and the group leader wanted to make sure everyone had gotten home safe.
Paul Taylor was not part of their group; nobody even knew him. But for many riders, Taylor’s death is proof of what they have been complaining about for years: few safe bike paths, angry drivers who view them as nuisances and a perceived resistance of local officials to enforce laws, like the recently passed legislation that requires drivers to move over at least three feet when passing cyclists.
So Matthews pulled that mangled frame off the wall, painted it white and prepared a ghost bike, a tribute installed at the site of a fallen rider.
“I felt that I was being called to do this for Paul and every cyclist around," he said.”
While hard and up-to-date data is difficult to find, between 2003 and 2008, 28 people died in bike related accidents in Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties, according to the Atlanta Bicycle Association. The association reported 1,476 accidents and classified 137 of those as serious.
Their numbers rising, bike enthusiasts insist those statistics are under-reported, by both the media and police. Bike safety is no small public concern.
“Some drivers see us as nuisances,” said Ken Rosskopf, a semi-retired Decatur lawyer who is an avid cyclist and specializes in bike injury cases. “But we can share the road, as long as everybody recognizes the roads are there to share.”
Although there have been ongoing efforts to improve conditions, Atlanta has consistanly ranked as one of the worst cycling cities in America, according to Bicyling magazine. In an attempt to address some of the safety concerns, Gov. Nathan Deal signed the three-foot law, which requires drivers to yield by three feet when passing cyclists. A violation is a misdemeanor punishable by fines and jail time.
But advocates of the bill, which has been adopted in at least 19 other states, wonder if drivers even know about it.
“It seems to be open season on bicyclists. One time in Virginia-Highland, someone hit me with his side mirror. He didn’t even know he hit me. He was oblivious," said Margaret McDaniel, who rides with several groups in the Marietta area. “Drivers are so distracted with cellphones and texting. And they have no idea what the three-foot rule is.”
Sometime around 6 a.m. on April 30, Paul Taylor got out of bed and got his bike.
A physician’s assistant, Taylor was devoted to Oak Grove United Methodist Church, where he also coached sports and was named “Boss Hog,” because of how he ran the annual barbecue which raised thousands of dollars for the congregation.
At 53, he had become a sportsman. He golfed, ran, took spin classes daily and competed in Iron Man events.
Barbara Taylor said her husband rarely rode his bike in the morning, preferring to jog. When he did ride, he usually didn’t ride on streets.
“He would go out to Stone Mountain," Taylor said. "I did not know him to go over to that area to ride.”
But according to police reports, at around 6:20 a.m. Taylor was cycling on North Decatur Road near Willivee Drive when he was hit by Jorge Mercado-Perez' 2004 Ford Ranger.
Mercado-Perez, 57, told police that Taylor appeared to be kneeling in the road, “as if he had fallen,” when he came upon him in the eastbound lane of the tight road.
“I would never be caught on North Decatur Road,” said Matthews, an experienced rider who has been at it since the 1980s. “It is a four-lane road with no room at all. It is just that tight.”
Last week, sitting alone in his garage, Matthews said he is one of the lucky ones. He was cycling in Tucker near the library when he was hit last year by a man who claimed he never saw him.
Matthews flew face first into the Buick, leaving several of his teeth lodged in the windshield. He took 15 stitches in his face, in addition to several rounds of painful root canals.
“I truly realize how lucky and fortunate a man I am to be able to walk and ride away from my wreck and live to tell about it,” Matthews said. “But the reality of it all is that the freedom that I had for all those years got erased totally by one automobile being in the wrong place at the wrong time and I’ll never be able to get that back again for the rest of my life.”
Yet Matthews, a professional tennis coach, got back on the bike after he recovered.
“Riding my bike was my sanity,” he said, putting the finishing touches on the ghost bike that he plans to install this week. “But I haven’t ridden since Paul was killed. He was 53. I am 54. He had daughters. I have two daughters. I will get back on the road, but it will be hard. There could be a bike by that little library with my R.I.P on it.”
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