Codi Nicole Alexander

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Codi Nicole Alexander
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Age: 16

Location:
Crosswalk across the on ramp
entrance ramp to Sam Eig Highway from Great Seneca Highway
Gaithersburg , MD
United States

From an article in the Gazette

 

Two white bicycles sit at each end of the crosswalk spanning the
entrance ramp to Sam Eig Highway from Great Seneca Highway in
Gaithersburg where two teenage girls were killed more than 10 years
apart, reminding drivers to share the road with pedestrians.

Codi Nicole Alexander, 16, of Gaithersburg was struck by a car while
bicycling across the ramp in the crosswalk Aug. 5 and died from her
injuries five days later, police said. She was wearing a helmet. Alexis
Diane Smith, 15, of Rockville, a student at the Academy of the Holy
Cross in Kensington, was hit by a vehicle while on her bike in the same
crosswalk with a friend on June 4, 1997, and died the next day, her
mother Ellie Smith said.

Smith and her husband put out the bikes, each decorated with a red bow,
in honor of both girls late last month for what would have been Alexis's
28th birthday Jan. 8. Ghost bikes are bicycles painted white and left
at sites where cyclists have been killed. The roadside memorials first
appeared in Missouri in 2003 and have since been spotted in more than
100 locations worldwide, according to www.ghostbikes.org.

"It's brought up a lot of horrible memories," Smith said of Alexander's
death. "...My whole world ended when she passed away, I lost part of my
life. She's just such a beautiful, loving soul who always had a smile on
her face."

Police determined that Alexander was at fault in the collision and did
not charge the driver, according to Sgt. Meredith Dominick, supervisor
of Montgomery County Police's collision reconstruction unit. The driver
who struck Smith, a police recruit leaving the Public Safety Training
Academy, was not charged, her mother said. Both drivers said that they
did not see the girls in the crosswalk, their families said.

Smith sent Alexander's parents a letter after and the two families later
got in touch, Codi's mother Lisa Polak Alexander said.

"I was just in shock that this had happened before," Polak Alexander
said. "...It is such a statement to see those two bikes there. Nobody
pays attention anymore to pedestrians and bicyclists, and to see these
two bikes sitting there reminds drivers."

Smith's backyard is about 50 yards from the crosswalk, she said, and
after her daughter died she planted a tree behind her house to obscure
the view. She recently contacted state highway officials to assess the
safety of the ramp and said she was scared for her husband to set up the
second bike because vehicles were traveling so fast. Alexander's family
said they share her concerns.

The State Highway Administration reviewed the site after being contacted
by Smith and plans to install rumble strips in a few months, spokesman
Charlie Gischlar said. The agency will also widen the painted stripes
delineating the lane on the ramp to slow cars and replace existing
pedestrian signage with florescent yellow signs that are easier to see,
he said.

"[Police] told me it was just an accident, and I just think what if I
could have done something? I don't want there to be a third person,"
Smith said. "With our angels' help, we will get something done."