Light Up Your Whip!

Ensure you light up your whip like the freaking sun or a low-flying UFO from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I've been tracking bicycle related fatalities for two years now. Mostly because I got real curious about it in the summer of 2016 when there was what I perceived to be a spike in bicycle-related deaths in Maryland.

I track these fatalities through media reporting - which can be a little difficult at times, but it provides us, the cycling community, some feedback on what's happening on the roads in a fairly timely basis. Government reporting can be a year or two behind and then you just get the statistics.

I was looking for some information about the two people killed over in Dewey last week and stumbled upon this incident right here in Maryland.

Mr. Frederick Cherry was riding a bicycle west on East Cedar Street and attempted to cross Route 13 in Fruitland. A person was driving a truck north-bound on Route 13.  The two collided as Mr. Cherry attempted to cross the intersection.

The death of Mr. Frederick Cherry brings us (Maryland) to 12 people on bikes killed this year on Maryland Roadways. It’s important to note that 10 of the 12 people killed this year….were killed at night.

Ensure you light up your whip like the freaking sun or a low-flying UFO from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

(Read: Year / # Deaths)
2010 8
2011 5
2012 5
2013 7
2014 6
2015 10
2016 16
2017 12

2017 Fatalities (Read: Date / Name / Age / Area)
13-Jan-17 / William C. Bosley / 70 / Hagerstown
24-Jan-17 / Brian E. Argy / 58 / Frederick
27-Jan-17 / Jamal Quentin Anderson / 14 / Randallstown
17-Feb-17 / George Ernest McNab / 59 / Waldorf
26-Apr-17 / Mariah Johnson / 17 / Hagerstown
17-May-17 / Thomas Randolph / 26 / Rockville
19-Jun-17 / Aaron Michael Laciny / 20 / Towson
04-Jul-17 / Jeremy Pope / 25 / Linthicum
21-Jul-17 / Harrison Thomas Earls / 20 / Taneytown
1-Sep-17 / Veronika Badurova / 21 / Ocean City
6-Sep-17 / Loreto Andal Canubas / 74 / Wheaton
28-Aug-17 / Frederick Cherry / 58 / Fruitland

Source: http://www.wmdt.com/news/maryland/update-bicyclist-dead-after-vehicle-crash-in-fruitland/613937080