Track closed due to accident

By Jaclyn Youngblood     3/12/09 7:00pm

The Beer Bike track in the Greenbriar lot was temporarily closed after an accident occurred on Feb. 25, B.J. Almond, Director of the Office of News and Media Relations, said. The track closed officially on Feb. 27 for spring break and reopened March 9 for bikers. Almond said a student biking on the track collided with a car that was crossing the track but had stopped when the driver saw the cyclists.

Two students were biking at the time of the accident. One student was able to make it safely around the car, but the other student crashed into the car, Almond said. The student, a Will Rice College freshman, went through the window and had to be hospitalized, Will Rice College senior Will Fischer said.

Track Coordinator Larissa Charnsangavej, a Brown College senior, said the track was scheduled to be closed during spring break even before the accident happened.

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"It was closed over spring break for resurfacing and painting, and that was going to happen anyway," she said.

Track policy does not permit students to bike before 4 p.m., at which point cars are no longer allowed in the parking spaces surrounding the track. Once on the track, bikers are responsible for using barriers to keep stray cars from entering the track area, according to a memo sent out in November. White wooden sawhorse barricades with a hand-painted "RICE" in the center are located on the side of the driveways next to the area that needs to be closed, Parking Manager Michael Morgan said.

The accident that caused the closure of the Beer Bike track occurred before 4 p.m., when the track should have been closed to bikers, according to the RUPD report.

However, the track's closure was not evident to all students.

"It still kind of concerns me because I know a lot of people use that bike track, and hopefully they'll get the message that it's closed," Genny Lozier, Will Rice College senior and captain of the Will Rice women's bike team, said.

Despite the temporary closure of the track la, some students continued to use it to practice. Charnsangavej, a Brown College senior, said many teams were unaware of the accident.

Charnsangavej said she sent emails to each of the colleges' Beer Bike coordinators and captains about the importance of bikers' alertness while on the track.

"We stressed that everybody [needs to] be safe, which is the most important thing," she said.

The track will be ready for Beer Bike on March 21. Since the track was closed starting the Friday before spring break, Charnsangavej said she didn't think teams' practices were inhibited.

"It would have affected...a Friday practice but I don't think a lot of teams were out there," she said.

Beginning the Monday after Beer Bike, the bike track will be closed during weekdays and open on Saturday and Sunday for bikers. Almond said these changes were made partly because of safety concerns and also because construction workers need to use the 840 spaces inside the track for parking.

Lozier noted that the track's previous set-up caused hazardous conditions.

"Basically, the the way the track was set up this year, they repainted it over the summer to create more parking spots and allow people to park in the middle," she said. "There's a lane that enters the track on one side and exits on the other. A lot of the cars go through rolling stops. What happened [during the accident] was the car didn't stop completely at the stop sign and then it stopped on the track."

Because the injuries sustained by her teammate, Lozier called for agreement between both bikers and drivers.

"I understand that they need to use the parking lot, but I think that it's a good compromise that they closed it now because it's not safe to have cars and bikers in that same space," Lozier said.

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