Thread by @m_sciencerocks

For long I wanted to do a funny thread to show you some beautiful and a few slightly bizarre things I encounter on my daily #bikeride to work at @ISTAustria.
Today sth happened and I realized I could no longer do it.

My way to work is just a few km, perfect distance to relax the mind after a long day without exhausting myself. most of it on bike paths, beautiful nature.

For the short distance, there is a remarkable amount of memorial plaques, miniature chapels and other landmarks that I pass by every day.

Since recently there even is a pale ghost lady statue sitting in a private garden, just before I reach the institute. I’d be curious to know why someone would put up this kind of statue. It is not without beauty, but I find it creepy.

All together it looks like the perfect bike-to-work route. Except that it isn’t.

If I bike with my little daughter on the back seat to take her to kindergarten, there’s a tricky part right at the beginning, in the center of Klosterneuburg.

I tried a few things, but there is no real alternative to using the main road where cars rush to catch the green lights. Whenever I go there I feel just slightly uncomfortable, and hope the car drivers have their eyes on the street.

A few days ago, I learned that this summer, a 56 year old lady died on her bike, in that very spot.

She was going straight down on the main road, just as I do with my kid on the back seat, when a car entered the crossing from the right, ignoring a STOP sign, hit her, and gave her deadly injuries.

A day later, I learned that the anonymous lady had been the midwife I used to go for postpartum exercise with my other daughter.

I remember her as a very grounded, direct and warm-hearted woman. She used to live and work right below the crossing that became the place of her death, about the same distance from the spot as we live away from it.

Today, I learned that the @radlobby_klbg had been repeatedly pushing to open an obvious alternative route, to avoid that cyclists have to take the main road. radlobby.org/noe/toedlicher…

Just a year ago, there had been a petition for safer bike routes for high school students that included the same recommendation.

All pushes and petitions were declined because of “loss of parking spots”.

Now, the 56 year old midwife is dead and I feel deeply sorry for the loss and pain of her family. Knowing, it might as well have been me and my three year old who got killed. And now, our bike would be the white #ghostbike at that corner.

It didn’t have to be like this. Unsafe roads are not a law of nature. Let’s do better. So this ended up not being a funny thread about my commute to work. but maybe this is more the kind of thread that we need.

@radlobby @thomerszauner @IST_sustainable @giulio_mattioli

Aftertweet: that spot is actually not the only dangerous spot on the route. At least one more, in Kierling, is really bad too, except that I don’t know of anyone who died there, yet. It even has a bike crossing, but like 3 in 4 car drivers don’t care.