She wanted to replace the dead flowers on a ghost bike erected at that site on 73rd Avenue where it intersects with the Erie Lackawanna trail in Schererville. Her father, 68-year-old Donald Seitzinger, Jr., of Crown Point, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly after the crash.
At the marked crosswalk where her father was struck, Woodard began crossing 73rd Avenue to return to her car. A motorist stopped, as it should, allowing her to cross. But a second motorist started to drive around the first vehicle and almost hit Woodard, she said.
The motorist had her window down so Woodard yelled at her, “My dad was just killed here!” Later that day, Woodard posted on her Facebook page about the incident: “PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE!” This is possibly the crux of the problem, not only at that potentially dangerous intersection but at most intersections of motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. Everyone needs to pay better attention while on Region streets and trails. My recent column on Seitzinger’s death and the circumstances around it highlighted this fact.
(Read it at NWI.com .) “This was so tragic.
What do we need to do to get a push-button stoplight installed there? Will it take another death?” asked a female bicyclist who lives in the nearby Briar Ridge neighborhood. She used to work with Seitzinger at Cleveland Cliffs’ Indiana Harbor plant, where he earned the nickname, “Mr. Safety.
” Another bicyclist felt compelled to make a pilgrimage to the ghost bike site, riding there on his 1971 Peugeot PX-10. “The sensible fix is like what we have on Main Street in Munster for the Pennsy Greenway Trail,” John Orfe said. “There is no other way for westbound drivers (on 73rd Avenue) to notice when they’re focused on the traffic.
” When I visited that intersection after Seitzinger’s death, I watched several bicyclists slow down only a bit before crossing. I’ve been guilty of the same thing there on my bike. “What I see are bikers going as fast as they can to beat their personal best time for distance,” one reader told me in response to my previous column.
“I’ve been shouted at — ‘Get the (expletive) out of the way.’ I’m a walker with my dog but I no longer use the so called bike trail.” Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Several readers shared a similar stance about bicyclists who don’t obey traffic laws and signage on streets.
“Bikes are considered vehicles and must obey the same rules of the road as cars,” David S. wrote. “Law enforcement needs to enforce biking laws and ensure bikes obey rules of the road as motor vehicles.
” Last week, I was biking in Valparaiso with my son when we pulled up to a stoplight intersection on Lincolnway, east of downtown. A pickup truck approached from the opposite direction with its turn signal activated to turn in front of us. I stopped at the light and gestured to the driver to pass in front of us even though I had the right of way.
As the motorist drove by, he cursed at us for some reason. I couldn’t understand what he said. But my son did.
He cursed back. I felt like Mr. Magoo pedaling through the intersection, oblivious to what had just happened.
This was a rare encounter for me with a motorist. Most drivers are courteous or cautious once they spot me. Some of them even back up their vehicle to allow me to cross a street in front of them.
I do the same for bicyclists when I’m driving. It’s less about driving etiquette and more about paying attention, as Woodard pleaded to motorists on her Facebook post. It’s up to the town of Schererville to possibly install a push-button red light or other safety precautions at that busy intersection.
It’s doable, I'm told, but it’s also a tough decision for officials because it’s so close to the Burr Street intersection to the east, which has a stoplight. The white ghost bike at the bike trail intersection — serving as a roadside memorial for Donald Seitzinger — will likely not slow down motorized traffic along 73rd. But it may grab the attention of bicyclists on that trail who may need something more than replaced flowers to pay better attention when crossing.
‘D?@# that Jerry!’ Reader engagement is a priority to me regardless if it’s through emails, voice mails, text messages, social media comments or handwritten letters. Some make me reconsider what I wrote in this column space. Others make me shake my head in disbelief.
This email, from a reader named Filiberto Morado, made me laugh out loud. It’s in response to my column on Whihala Beach in Whiting . Read it at NWI.
com . “As soon as I saw the picture of the two beach chairs, I cringed. I told my wife that the secret was out! D?@# that Jerry!” wrote Morado, a former Whiting resident who now lives mostly in Arizona.
“Whenever it gets too hot we head to that very spot in your photograph with those two beach chairs. We chain up our bikes and take a cool dip in beautiful Lake Michigan. I hope Whiting continues improving, even if it means my ‘secret’ beach spot has been exposed.
”.
