Star-Gazette Editorial: Sharing the road

Death on Ashland highway a reminder that those on foot, bikes at the mercy of drivers. What happened along that stretch has yet to come fully to light. The 17-year-old was found dead in a ditch the next day. He had been hit by a car police say was driven by Kyle S. Bradley of Sayre, who left the scene of the accident. Investigators from the Chemung County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s office must piece together evidence and determine whether Bradley knew he hit a cyclist at the time or if, as Bradley’s lawyer says, thought he hit a deer.
There’s been plenty of speculation online about whether Bradley’s explanation is plausible or merely a cover-up. That’s for the district attorney to decide. There also has been Monday-morning quarterbacking about whether the road is dangerous and whether the 55 mph speed limit in some stretches adds to that danger.
With so many expanses of rural highways around the Twin Tiers, they become accessible paved paths for cyclists, runners and walkers, and if people drive with respect and courtesy for those on foot or two wheels, there shouldn’t be a need to adjust speed limits. Let’s be realistic. Most people on an open rural road aren’t necessarily going to obey those limits, but if drivers would show common sense toward pedestrians and cyclists, they should slow down and, traffic permitting, give them wide berth as they pass. It’s not hard to hit the brake and avoid unnerving people by passing at a reasonable speed.

Many drivers already do that in this area, along roads such as Route 352 between Elmira and Corning and along Route 427 between Elmira and Pennsylvania. Those drivers may themselves be runners, walkers or cyclists who understand the importance of sharing the road safely in this area.

Whether that kind of attitude would have saved Bacon’s life last Thursday evening is questionable. The point is that other tragedies of this kind are waiting to happen, especially as the weather gets warmer and more people take to the roads. And don’t think that this kind of accident happens only on open, high-speed highways.

City streets are just as much of a potential death trap if drivers aren’t careful and don’t slow down — below the speed limit if necessary — to make their way around bicyclists or pedestrians.

What happened to Steven Bacon was a horrible tragedy that will soon have a better explanation than what the public has been given to this point. But it also is a stark reminder that people using Twin Tiers roads for recreation have a right to be there too, and drivers should respect that. Anything less can be deadly.