Nathan Crowson was hit and killed by a drunk driver while riding his bike on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge at 8:45 PM on January 21, 2012. He died instantly, and Danny Morris, the friend he rode with, was in an induced coma in critical condition as of this afternoon. Nathan was an experienced cyclist and commuted to work on bike for years. He was known as a friend, good father, and talented artist.
I visited his Ghost Bike memorial set up at the location where he died. There's a white bike covered in mementos, flowers, notes. Spray-painted red flowers on the base of nearby poles. A stenciled heart in the road near the bike. A little stuffed animal sits behind the large votive candle, and a note his 5 year old daughter wrote laid on the ground near the front wheel. The little girl attends my Unitarian church, and that was my initial connection to this accident after learning about it through a Facebook post on my church's page. Then it unraveled so much more in me that I felt compelled to visit, to photograph, and share the story with others.
When I first moved to Baton Rouge 7 years ago with my husband and then 2 year old daughter, I met a woman and her also two year old at a local children's activity. We became friends, and one day she shared with me the horrible story of losing her husband in a cycling accident on a River Road, an area known for cyclist training sessions. A driver drove into the team and killed him and a teen rider. Their son was born soon after and named after the father. It's a heartbreaking story, and that feeling returned once I learned about Nathan and the daughter he leaves behind.
Her story, Nathan's, Danny's along with the thousands of cyclists in Baton Rouge who struggle everyday to ride safely, need to be shared and talked about to move ourselves and the city to action to improve the roads for pedestrians and riders. We're designed to transport cars, and that's about it. Drivers brains are wired to rule the road and get to where they have to go, not share the road with others who choose a different means of getting around. It's very frustrating, to say the least, to be living in a city, the capital city no less, where such a physical and mental structure exists.
You find hope though when you meet someone like Matt Love. He came out from a nearby office while I was visiting the memorial. He asked what I was doing, and I told him that I wanted to blog about what happened in hopes that people will learn and want to improve the city's conditions for cyclists. It ends up that he was a cyclist himself, and we talked a bit about the accident and city's situation. We shared similar concerns, but his from the experience as a cyclist. I found out that he actually rides quite a distance everyday to work, and that he's found a way to avoid busy roads. It ends up that he crosses the farm property that I visit nearly everyday, and while that's something I smiled about, that's also what has to change for cyclists like Matt.
I also learned about a few advocacy organizations from him. http://ghostbikes.org/, BRASS - Baton Rouge Advocates for Safer Streets and The Baton Rouge Bike Club, as well as an informational letter written by the bike club's president, Tom Clement. I'll definitely visit the sites, and I recommend a read of his well written letter here. You'll be floored by our city's statistics when it comes to safety for cyclists, and hopefully moved to get involved and become proactive in moving progress along.
Thank you, Matt Love, for stepping out there to speak with me and spend a bit of time. I really appreciate it.
And Nathan's bike. It was red. Something that seems so trivial in light of the tragedy, but I learned about it while checking out the Critical Mass bike ride info tonight (which I will write about, too). For some reason I found his bike color and the photo of the red flowers stencil resonated with me the most. Maybe it's just that something in me knowing him a bit more and wanting to do something to help.
