A 25-year-old woman was killed in a crash while riding a Divvy bike in Chicago Friday in what is believed to be the nation’s first bikesharing death.
The crash happened around 9 a.m. in the city’s Avondale neighborhood, when a truck turning from Sacremento Avenue onto Belmont Avenue crushed the cyclist who was trying to go straight.
The rider was identified as Virginia Murray, who lived in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.
The death marks the first bikesharing death in the U.S.
“Today marks a tragic milestone we wished would never come,” the North American Bikeshare Association said in a statement. “This is the first time that we’ve lost someone from our bikeshare community in the eight years that bikeshare has operated in the United States. Today’s loss extends beyond Chicago and into the hearts and homes across the nation.”
The Chicago Department of Transportation said the death is the first-ever fatality in nearly 8 million rides taken on the Divvy system, which came to Chicago almost two years ago to the date.
“Divvy and the City of Chicago express our deepest condolences to the rider’s family and loved ones,” CDOT said in a statement.
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According to the North American Bikeshare Association, 105 municipalities across the country now have bikesharing, with more than 70 million trips being taken since it began in 2008.
An investigation into the crash remained ongoing Friday evening.
