Fatal accidents occur again and again in the city of Zurich. Cyclists are particularly affected.
Cycling is dangerous in some places in Zurich.
On September 30, a tragic accident occurred near the Lochergut in Zurich. A cement mixer wanted to turn right from Badenerstrasse onto Seebahnstrasse and collided with a 25-year-old cyclist. The cyclist was injured so badly that she died at the scene of the accident.
The accident happened shortly before the “Critical Mass”, a bicycle demonstration that always takes place on the last Friday of the month. Among other things, the participants demand safer roads for cyclists.
At the corner of Badenerstrasse and Seebahnstrasse, where the fatal accident occurred, there is now a “ghost bike”. The white painted bike is a reminder of the accident. The participation was great. Around 100 people gathered on Helvetiaplatz on Thursday to take a “silent ride” to the scene of the accident and to commemorate the deceased, like them Tamedia newspapers have reported.
On Thursday of the “Silent Ride” there was another collision between a truck and a cyclist in District 1. A truck driver drove from Central over the Bahnhofbrücke and wanted to turn right onto Bahnhofquai when he hit a cyclist. The accident was not fatal, but the cyclist was seriously injured. The city police are currently investigating the course of the accident.
Mostly cyclists or pedestrians affected
Fortunately, two serious bicycle accidents within a week are rather rare in Zurich. The 25-year-old woman is the first cyclist to die in the city this year. In recent years, however, there have been repeated fatal accidents.
The latest accident statistics show that there were around three percent fewer traffic accidents last year than the five-year average. However, the number of people seriously injured on the streets of Zurich has increased by exactly the same percentage. 20 people lost their lives in road traffic in 2021.
Three quarters of all serious injuries and deaths in the canton of Zurich are attributable to pedestrians, cyclists, e-bikers or motorcyclists.
Human lives are above party politics
The fatal accident in Lochergut has called the politicians into action. The two Zurich SP councilors Anna Graff and Marco Denoth want to know in a written request from the city council how structurally separated bike paths affect the number of bike accidents. Graff and Denoth also ask for a table of the advantages and disadvantages of separate cycle paths from the city’s point of view.
Not only the political left reacted: An alliance of municipal council members from the FDP, AL, SP, GLP, EVP and Mitte from constituencies 4 and 5 want to defuse dangerous spots in Zurich’s traffic. That said FDP councilor Roger Suter last week in the Zurich council. He didn’t say what that means in concrete terms. Human lives are above party politics. Suter said he was ready to take a step to the left. He hopes that the left side will also take a step to the right.
The cycling associations are demanding that the city of Zurich take immediate measures. Yvonne Ehrensberger, managing director of Pro Velo Kanton Zürich, told SRF that lighting systems could be programmed in such a way that bicycles are not allowed to turn at the same time as bicycles or trucks.
The city of Zurich has been trying for some time to defuse tricky road sections. In doing so, it primarily starts with signaling or structural measures. For example in the Schlyfi: In the curve between Klusplatz and Witikon, two cyclists died after an accident within half a year. In response, the city has wrapped roadside lanterns in mats and placed a marker. In addition, the speed limit there is now 30. Since then, no serious bicycle accidents have been recorded there.
The city of Zurich is planning more than 100 kilometers of preferred cycling routes by 2030. These are intended to make cycling in the city generally safer.