Vigil held for man killed in bicycle crash on Madison’s west side

June 9, 2022 10:41 AM

Jaymes Langrehr,

Posted: June 9, 2022 10:41 AM

Updated: June 10, 2022 7:12 AM

by Jaymes Langrehr

MADISON, Wis. — People gathered on Mineral Point Road Thursday morning for a vigil in memory of a man who was killed while riding his bike in the area earlier this week.

Madison Bikes helped organize the vigil, which included placing a white “ghost bike” in the area of Mineral Point Road and Ganser Way as part of a memorial for the man who died. The Dane County Medical Examiners’ Office identified the man Thursday evening as 29-year-old Taylor Dunn.

Authorities say the man was hit by a woman who had a .129 BAC on a breathalyzer test after the crash and who said she was looking at her phone at the time of the collision. Okima Jones, 42, was charged Wednesday with one count of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. Police say she immediately ran back to the scene of the crash after parking her vehicle in a nearby parking lot and admitted to being the person who hit him.

Bike safety advocates say while the incident may have been caused by a person who was legally drunk, Mineral Point Road has been identified by the city as a stretch of road with a disproportionate number of serious and fatal crashes.

“This death involved a drunk driver. It is easy to think of this as a tragic accident, caused by somebody’s bad decision. But we strongly believe that the only way to stop traffic death and injury is by taking a systems perspective: Everybody makes mistakes. We need to build streets that are forgiving of those mistakes and do not result in death and injury,” Madison Bikes president Harald Kliems said in a statement.

Kliems called on the city to reevaluate its plans for the Bus Rapid Transit system, which include changes to Mineral Point Road, to ensure those plans sufficiently protect people who are walking, biking or skating.