Lance David

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Lance David
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Age: 54

Location:
East Marginal Way and South Hanford
Seattle , WA
United States

This ghost bike was removed during replacement of the sign post to which it was originally attached, but was replaced by family members in December 2013.

Lance's obituary is here

The west Seattle Herald posted a slideshow of the ghost bike installation

From Seattle Bike Blog:

Lance David was husband, father of twins and loved cycling

Lance David was a father of twins, now 23 years old, and husband of
31 years. He lived in Federal Way and biked several times a week to his
job at Expeditors International in downtown Seattle

He died Wednesday morning in a collision with the rear wheels of a semi truck. He was 54 years old, but first responders thought he was in his 30s.

The exact circumstances are still unknown, but the result is very real to his friends and family. His wife Jane left a comment on the West Seattle Blog yesterday:

I just wanted to say thank you many times over to
those who stopped to help Lance, and my heart goes out to the truck
driver. My family is devastated over his loss, but we are lifted up by
the incredible support of family, friends and fellow bicyclists. Lance
was a highly experienced and careful road biker. He was aware of his
surroundings, logged thousands of miles on his bike, and had ridden this
route many times before. Each time he rode in, I would say “be careful”
and he would reply “I always am”. We don’t yet know for sure what
happened and maybe never will. I just hope and pray that some changes
are made that will prevent this from happening to someone else’s loved
one.

His daughter Diana told the Seattle Times that he biked to work two
days a week during the spring, but was planning on biking more during
Bike Month. He died on the first day of the month-long celebration of
cycle commuting.

From the Times:

 

Diana David said she appreciates the outpouring of
flowers, calls and messages from the cycling community. “It’s nice to
get the support of people we don’t even know,” she said.

“The big thing with Lance, he was a very seasoned rider. He was the
kind of rider who would get mad at other riders for doing the wrong
thing. To have something like this happen, it doesn’t make sense,” said
friend Steven Birds of Bellevue.

“You’re not going to meet a nicer guy. If he ever passed a cyclist on
the side of the road, working on a flat, he’d always ask if you’re OK.”

The Times reports that coworkers and friends are planning to ride
from 3rd and Madison to the crash site at 3 p.m. Friday in memory of
Lance. (UPDATE: There will then be a memorial starting at Hanford and E Marginal Way starting at 3:30, according to Ben Rainbow in the comments below.

There is also a planned (long and strenuous) ride leaving Marymoor at 1 p.m. Sunday, hitting some hill climbs Lance was fond of.

As we reported Wednesday,
the city has turned its attention to E Marginal Way, a street that is
notoriously dangerous and uncomfortable for all users. Unfortunately,
the street is really the only viable option for people cycling between
the West Seattle Bridge and downtown.

SDOT Traffic Engineer Dongho Chang visited the site just hours after
the fatal collision to see what could be done to improve safety. The
mayor gave him 30 days to come up with a short-term solution, but paving
conditions are so bad that a long-term plan would require a lot of
money and a complete repaving of the street.

Several people have pointed out that this could be an opportunity for
cycling and freight interests to come together. Jessie Kwak at Bicitoro
put it very well in a recent reflection she wrote about cycling after learning of Lance’s death:

Quite a few people today have proposed a separated cycle
track along the West Seattle commute section of E. Marginal Way. I think
that’s absolutely necessary—and I can’t imagine who would oppose it.
Especially the Port and all the local companies. I mean, who would want
to be that poor semi truck driver? By all the early accounts, he wasn’t
at fault, it was just a shitty situation on both ends.

I know I’m being overly optimistic about a cycle track being supported by the industrial residents of SODO (see also: the Missing Link),
but seriously. It’s not a matter of bikes vs. cars, commuters vs.
industry, or whatever vs. whoever. It’s a matter of two very different
usages of the same stretch of road. The problem’s not going to go away
on its own, and neither side is going to “win.”