NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Under a bright sky Sunday (Oct. 22), the mother of Reuben Hayes felt little but gloom.
“I’m not doing well at all,” she said. “I have not received any information about what’s going on, and I’m tore up.”
She watched as another ghost bike was placed along the busy streets of New Orleans, this one commemorating her 40-year-old son. New Orleans police said Reuben Hayes died Oct. 1, after being struck by a vehicle that had the right-of-way at the intersection of North Claiborne Avenue and Touro Street.
“It’s beautiful, y’all. I’m so grateful,” she said. “He was loved by so many people. That’s his girlfriends, I’m his mom, that’s his auntie, those are his daughters. He was loved by so many.”
Why are bicyclists in New Orleans killed at higher rates than other cities?
The memorial was placed by Bike Uneasy, the New Orleans riders organization that advocates for those most vulnerable when traveling the roadways -- cyclists and pedestrians.
“You look at this,” Bike Uneasy spokesman Clark Thompson said, surveying the intersection. “Here we have cars flying through this intersection. No painted crosswalks. A lot of the obstruction here is that (Claiborne Avenue) is a state highway and it’s not entirely under control of the City of New Orleans.”
Thompson said many intersections like this one -- coming right off the interstate -- don’t have enough protections in place to prevent incidents like this one from happening.
“Coming off an interstate, people’s families live right here,” Thompson said. “Children live on this side, their families live on this side, and they’ve got to safely cross this street. And I don’t see a real consideration of that from the state government.”
According to the NOPD, the vehicle that struck Hayes was traveling eastbound on North Claiborne Avenue and had the right-of-way when Hayes failed to stop and rode out in front of the vehicle from Touro Street. Hayes was taken by New Orleans EMS for treatment but died at the hospital.
The driver of the other vehicle was not injured, remained at the scene, cooperated with investigators and was not cited or arrested. Three weeks later, Hayes’ mother said she hasn’t heard whether the NOPD’s investigation is complete.
Anyone with information on the fatal crash has been asked to contact NOPD Traffic Fatality investigator Michael Baldassaro at (504) 658-6205.
“Certainly, riding with lights, riding with a helmet, all increases your chances of surviving these sort of things,” Thompson said. “The rate of speed that people travel on this road is what’s killing people.”
According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, New Orleans has the highest rate of bicyclist deaths per capita among major U.S. cities. Hayes is at least the fifth cyclist killed in New Orleans so far this year.
Hayes’ mother said she knows her son’s death was an accident. But she said she wants to become an advocate for safer streets, because no one should receive the notification call that changed her world earlier this month.
“I never knew, until it happened to me,” she said. “I couldn’t even imagine. So, now that it’s happened to me, it’s waking me up, I’m more aware now. Hopefully, we can get something done.”
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