LYNN — A Salem resident couldn’t stop thinking about the fatal tractor-trailer crash on the Lynnway on June 5, so she created a memorial to honor the victim.
William Beard was killed at approximately 11 a.m. right before the traffic light at the Commercial Street intersection while heading northbound when a tractor-trailer struck and ran him over.
The Essex County District Attorney’s investigation into the crash is still ongoing.
Since the crash took place, Ellen Simpson has taken the initiative to craft what’s known as a “ghost bike” in memory of Beard. Ghost bikes are roadside memorials that commemorate cyclist deaths.
After seeing many in other areas of Massachusetts, Simpson took it upon herself to make one.
“I do remember seeing my first one and finding it just a really powerful way to speak for people who can no longer speak for themselves,” Simpson said. “I never considered doing one until I learned about the death of Mr. Beard, because that is a place that I drive by most days on my way to Wonderland.”
The process of creating the bike included purchasing a $20 scrap bike from Facebook Marketplace and giving it a new look with white spray paint and artificial bouquets that will withstand all weather, Simpson said. With the help of a friend, Simpson was also able to create a placard with Beard’s name and day of death.
“I know sometimes flowers do end up there kind of organically from people who know the victim… but I just wanted a couple of bunches of flowers that would be permanent,” Simpson said.
While going to place the decorated bicycle at the site of the crash, Simpson noticed flowers were already there.
With two feet of sidewalk and no buffer zone between the road and pedestrians, Simpson realized a danger residents must face on a daily basis – how close the fast cars really are.
“People can go very fast on that street, and legally it’s not a street where you go slowly,” Simpson said. “It actually felt super dangerous not being protected from the cars that were whizzing by.”
Simpson said she hopes a buffer zone between the sidewalk and the roadway will eventually be added to better protect pedestrians.
Bringing attention to the severe dangers cyclists and pedestrians face on busy roads like the Lynnway, and being proactive in efforts to make commuters’ lives safer, are two of the three solid motivations that drove Simpson to create the ghost bike memorial, alongside commemorating Beard’s death.
For Simpson, cyclist and pedestrian safety strikes close to home, with three close family members using those transportation modes to get to work every day.
“(They) really motivate me to make it a safer environment for everyone in our region,” Simpson said.
The discussion of road safety for cyclists has long been a two-sided issue in Simpson’s eyes, with some taking the side of the bikers, and some taking the side of the drivers, but she hopes for more people to understand that both parties involved in incidents like Beard’s should be given grace.
“I think we can all align on wanting to be able to use whatever mode of transportation is part of our lives and doing it in a safe way,” Simpson added.
With the upcoming Lynnway Multimodal Corridor Project, lanes will be reduced to make way for updated bus and bike lanes, an addition of at least two through-lanes in each direction and all existing left-turn lanes, updated sidewalks including 34 new ADA-compliant ramps, and increasing visibility for pedestrians on crosswalks, according to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) website.
Simpson believes and hopes this project will be mostly positive, making it clear where cyclists and drivers belong on the road. She believes the more signals drivers have to make way for cyclists, the safer it will be.
While leaving the memorial site, Simpson noticed a family with a child crossing the road during a green light, which piqued her interest even more about the timing of crosswalks, and reducing the pedestrians’ temptation to skip the safety protocol and run across the six lanes.
“I think they had been waiting a while, and they finally just waited until there was a break in the traffic and they ran across,” Simpson said. “I understand that temptation, and I don’t blame them one bit… but if you make it so that when you press the walk signal, you don’t have to wait very long, then people are more apt to wait.”
As Simpson worked on Beard’s memorial, two more cyclists were killed in separate crashes in Massachusetts. One was 36-year-old Louisa Gag, who was killed on July 9 in Boston on her commute to City Hall after a collision with a truck. The other was 74-year-old woman Denise Olson, who was killed on July 13 in Dartmouth after a collision with a dump truck.
Simpson hopes that both of the individuals will receive ghost bike memorials like hers to Beard.
“I think the point of all of this is to never have to make ghost bikes, but we’re not there yet,” Simpson said.
