Memorial to a Fellow Cyclist

Francisco “David” Galvez Memorial. Tucson, Arizona, 2015

It seems to happen with depressing regularity wherever there is a heavy mix of motor vehicle and bicycle traffic (yes, even when there are established bike lanes)…a cyclist is hit, and severely injured or killed.

In the Boulder area, it seems like Highway 36, stretching out to Lyons, is the danger zone. In Tucson, the Catalina Highway, leading up to the popular 6,000′ climb of Mt. Lemmon, is now named the Brad P. Gorman Memorial Highway as a direct result of a 4-wheel v. 2-wheel tragedy. His story was big news in September of 1999 and eventually resulted in the passing of a “three-foot passing rule” in Arizona. The 17-year old who hit Brad was fined $66 for unsafe passing. And so it goes…

Yes, the cyclist always loses.

At the intersection of First Avenue and Navajo Road, in Tucson, you will find a memorial to yet another sad steel-flesh encounter in the form of a white-painted “ghost bike” and a memory box. The story behind it is as unfortunate as all the others, but with a twist.

You see, it was an on-duty policeman in an unmarked vehicle who hit and killed Francisco “David” Galvez that night in early November of last year. A witness to the accident, in an interview, implies that the driver of the vehicle was maneuvering in an unusual and aggressive manner. One wonders if the internal police investigation will be complete and fair, although the police chief assures us it will be.

The nickname “David”, by the way, came from the biblical David and Goliath story…it seems this man was a spirited soul regardless of the odds. So we’ll see how the investigation unfolds as the entrenched power structure (the giant, you might say) confronts the relative weakness of one grieving family on the community battlefield.

One moving fact: there is also a huge 30-foot flower sculpture (creators: Jason Butler and Hiro Tashima) beside the spot where David died. It wasn’t planned that way, but it certainly serves as a fitting memorial to honor a fellow cyclist who was forced to ride away into a desert sunset well before his time.

So, lets all try our best to be careful out on the roads, whether we are cycling, walking, or driving.

And smooth riding to you, David.

The Flower Scupture. Tucson, Arizona, 2015