A vigil and ghost bike installation was held in Brooklyn Wednesday night in honor of an avid cyclist and advocate who was fatally struck by the driver of a flat-bed truck earlier this month, renewing calls for safe street infrastructure.
Dozens of family members, friends and street safety advocates gathered on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Lexington Avenue to honor long-time cyclist Adam Uster’s life. Friends comforted each other with hugs, exchanging stories about Uster through tears.
According to police and video obtained by Streetsblog, Uster was riding his bike southbound on Franklin Avenue on the morning of May 1 when he was hit by a 2021 Isuzu Flat-bed truck making a right turn at the intersection on Lexington Avenue. He was taken to New York Presbyterian, where he was pronounced dead.
The 39-year-old Crown Heights resident was the 13th person this year to die while riding a bike in New York City. More bikers have died by traffic collisions so far this year than at the same point in any other year under Vision Zero — the street safety program started under former Mayor Bill de Blasio — according to advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.
Speaking to the crowd at the intersection on Wednesday, Uster’s wife Frederique Uster-Hug talked about her husband’s long history of bike riding, which began as he grew up in the outskirts of Washington D.C. using a bike to get around.
“Adam was a biker, true and true,” Uster-Hug said. “I am forever grateful to have been introduced to biking in New York City by Adam. It can be daunting and scary, and Adam's fate shows us the real danger of it. At the same time, there is a beauty in it that I wouldn't wanna miss.”
In a prayer, Uster-Hug expressed her gratitude for having been able to get to Adam in time to ride the ambulance with him to the hospital, thanked the community who showed up for her in the time since, and pleaded for changes in street safety.
Uster-Hug is a member of Transportation Alternatives, which helped to plan the vigil. Her husband was a member as well.
Executive Director Danny Harris attended the vigil Wednesday, expressing his condolences and pleading with city officials to commit to delivering on their street safety promises.
“We're here because we're angry. We're here because we don't need to be. We're here because this mayor keeps failing us. This Council keeps failing us. This DOT keeps failing us and we'll show up demanding groundbreakings after groundbreakings,” Harris said, speaking over the sound of cars driving past the vigil on Franklin Ave.
Friends who attended the funeral described Uster as an altruistic person, a great friend and loving father. Several said he was the one who encouraged them to start biking.
“I don't know how to get to the post office any other way,” said Amy Tuarez who first got a bike on Uster’s recommendation. She said she would continue to ride.
“Now it's become the beautiful habit and ritual of getting on that bike and feeling the air on your face and kind of feeling like you're flying a little bit,” Tuarez said. “Adam left me with that. So I think it would be a disservice to his memory to not continue to do it.”
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May 11, 2023 at 04:07PM
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Friends gather in Brooklyn to mourn cyclist killed by truck driver - Gothamist
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