Deadly crash raises awareness about bike safety

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Today marks one week since a cyclist died in a collision with an HISD school bus in the Heights. While the investigation into the cause of the accident continues, we want people out there on the roads to always be mindful of bicycles.

It was last Thursday when 23-year-old David Loya was riding his bicycle on Heights Blvd. near 8th Street. He was run over by an HISD school bus, and died at the scene. 

“That could’ve been me, I ride my bike every day to work, I ride my bike to my friends house, to the grocery store," says Doug Waldreb, Development Director of Bike Houston. "It is my means of transportation.”

Waldreb is with Bike Houston, a non-profit that advocates for bike riders. He wants riders like him to be safe. 

"We really need to have a better campaign citywide that is letting drivers know how to actually use the roads in ways that are safe," he said.

Waldreb says there are more than 20 thousand people who rely on bicycles as a means of transportation, and that Houston is a great city for bike riding, but we need to do better. 

"We really want to see the city of Houston adopt a vision zero campaign, which is a vision citywide that says we do not except any deaths on our roadways," he said. "So nobody dying in cars, nobody dying walking, nobody dying on bikes. Zero is the only acceptable number.“

He wants to remind everyone that it’s Spring Break and as the weather warms up, more bikes will be on our roads. Even though cyclist need to obey the rules of the road, drivers need to see that cyclists are out there.

"Just pretend that that’s somebody that’s your friend, that’s your mother, that’s your son or your daughter on that bicycle."