Second cyclist killed by driver

By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on September 18, 2009

Amherst bicyclists were shocked to hear this week of the second fatality this year from a collision with a car whose driver fled the scene.

"Oh no, not another one," thought Dorothy Baumann, owner of Trailside Bicycles, when she heard about the death last Saturday night of Blake Goodman on Montague Road. She had placed a white "ghost bike" at the University Drive site where bicyclist Misty Bassi died on Memorial Day, and plans another to mark the place where Goodman was struck.

There seem to be more bicyclists on the road, said James Lowenthal, president of the local chapter of MassBike, which seeks to improve safety and enhance the cycling environment. "That means there will be more crashes, but generally it means fewer crashes per bike trip," he said. "Biking gets safer when more bicyclists are out there."

Three weeks ago, the Amherst Police Department issued a statement about new state bicycle laws that went into effect April 15. The police urged motorists to "be courteous when sharing the road with cyclists," yielding the right of way at intersections.

There were 14 crashes that included bicyclists in the fiscal year ending in June 2008, with 11 involving injury to the cyclist, up 22 percent from previous years, Amherst police said.

On Saturday at around 10:30 p.m., Goodman, 21, was bicycling north on Montague Road with his friend John Deary, 24. They were riding two abreast, not single-file, and were carrying something that police have not identified. A fine mist was falling from the sky.

Goodman was apparently hit by a car that was also traveling north. The collision took place just north of the Mill River Recreation Area, close to the house at 115 Montague Road and across the street from the W.D. Cowls sawmill. He was pronounced dead at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Deary sustained a leg injury.

At Bulletin presstime, it was not known whether their bicycles were illuminated, whether the rides wore reflective vests or helmets or whether they were within the 41/2-foot-wide shoulder beside the main travel lane. An accident reconstruction team from the state police is seeking to determine what happened.

As a result of the collision, the vehicle sustained damage to the passenger side of its front end, as well as to the mirror on the passenger side. Police officers canvassed residential neighborhoods, notified neighboring towns of the description and spoke to local body shops in an effort to find the vehicle and its owner.

At first, police said that debris left behind indicated that the vehicle was a Ford. On Wednesday, they said that might not be the case. Witnesses have said the car is dark-colored.

Robert Goodman of Wakefield, father of the victim, went on Boston television asking that the driver of the vehicle come forward.

"They should do the right thing, take responsibility for what they did, to help our family get some closure," he said. "I don't know if this person was at fault. But one thing I do know is they just left someone who was injured on the street and just took off. They didn't stop to see if they could help."

Goodman was a student last year at the University of Massachusetts, taking courses in communication and comparative literature, but he was not enrolled this semester, according to the UMass News Office. Deary is enrolled at UMass as an English major.

The police are seeking to talk to anyone who was in the area last Saturday night. They can be reached at 259-3000. "We are looking at any calls from the public as to potential leads," said Sgt. William Menard.

An average of 689 bicyclists were killed yearly in collisions with vehicles between 2000 and 2004, down from over 1,000 in 1975, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Based on these statistics, Amherst has already seen more than its share this year.

Parvin Niroomand, the 75-year-old woman whose vehicle struck Bassi on Memorial Day, is due back in court on Tuesday.

Goodman was the second young person to die violently in the Amherst area over a three-day period. On Sept. 10, UMass student Peter Boutarel, 19, died after being struck by an Amtrak train in Leverett.