Crime & Safety

Another Cyclist Hit by Car on Fahy Bridge

Frank Pavlick is the second expert cyclist to be hit by a car on Fahy Bridge in last five months, but avoids serious injury. Juvenile driver charged with hit and run.

 

For the second time in five months, an expert bicycle rider was hit by a car while traveling across the Philip J. Fahy Bridge. This time, fortunately, the rider escaped serious injury, officials said.

The incident happened at a little after 3 p.m. Monday when Frank Pavlick, the advanced mechanic instructor for the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation and a League of American Bicyclists certified cycling instructor, was struck while riding in the bridge’s northbound lanes, according to Bethlehem police.

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Police apprehended the driver, a 17-year-old male who was not identified, near the scene and charged him with fleeing the scene of an accident.

He may also be among the first people charged under the new state vehicle code, which requires drivers to give cyclists a wide berth on the road, according to Steve Schmitt, the director of the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation, a group that advocates walking, bicycling and the use of mass transit instead of driving.

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The quick actions of a bus driver with the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority enabled police to make the quick collar, Schmitt said. The bus blocked both northbound lanes of the bridge to prevent the driver from getting away from the scene.

The coalition and the Bethlehem Public Works Department have agreed to move ahead as quickly as possible with plans to install “Bikes May Use Full Lane” signs and “Shared Lane Markings” on the northbound side of the bridge where Pavlick was hit, Schmitt said in an e-mail.

“Shared Lane Markings” will also be repainted on the southbound side of the bridge in the right lane where was hit in December, Schmitt said. Ytsma died as a result of his injuries four days after the accident.


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