Two Swimmers from Virginia Move to Pittsburgh

I met Susan Hicks when I was 9, and she was 7 when we were on the summer swim team together about 25 miles south of Washington, DC. She was an incredibly fast and graceful swimmer, while I sort of moseyed along, barely not drowning.

Though never super close friends, our early lives were intertwined. Our little brothers were best friends, her oldest brother was my little sister's first crush, her mother was my geometry teacher, and all of our siblings were on swim teams together for years -- summer, year-round, and high school teams. My brother and I rode with Susan and her brothers to swim practice several times a week in his burnt sienna station wagon. 

After high school, we lost touch, as I zigged in one direction, and she zagged the other. I left Virginia first -- heading up to New Hampshire to study history with a very light Russian focus. She left Virginia to study at the University of Pittsburgh, and I studied abroad in Moscow through the program at Pitt where Susan later worked.

Even though we didn't stay in touch, it was impossible to forget her. Our parents still lived in the same town and my parents still went to the same pool where we were on the summer swim team. My dad loved to remind me that Susan's impressive swim records remained unbeaten -- decades after she shattered the previous times.

Reunited and It Feels So Good

In the beginning of 2013, Susan and I were shocked to run into each other at a grocery store in Pittsburgh. It was the weekend she moved back to the city and about a week before I left Pittsburgh to move back to Washington, DC. 

Even though we hadn't seen each other in over a decade, we recognized each other instantly and enthusiastically reconnected. It was a charming surprise to discover we had mutual friends and learn that she would be living with a previous roommate and friend of mine.

When her little brother became a father in 2015, Susan and I visited the town where our parents still lived and then road-tripped back to Pittsburgh, laughing the whole way as we realized all the ways our lives had overlapped. 

A month later, I was stunned to learn she was killed in Pittsburgh on her way home from work.

Brilliant, Beautiful, Joyful, and Loved Life

Susan was brilliant, beautiful, joyful, and loved life, and she was excited about the present and future. She had just closed on a house a few weeks prior and was preparing to move into it. She was thrilled she'd be able to walk or ride to friends' houses for dinner and their tradition of reading plays out loud. 

She was heading home from her job as assistant director at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Russian and East European Studies. 

The next day her family was planning her funeral. 

Susan's Death was Preventable

It was originally called an "accident." 

It was thought that the driver of one of the cars involved had a medical emergency of some sort, a heart attack or a seizure, and lost control of their car.

And that's the thing: cars are multi-ton tools operated by hundreds of millions of people and any momentary distraction can mean the end of someone's life. No matter how diligent and thoughtful a person is while driving a car -- even the very best driver is susceptible to some unanticipated emergency -- and they could tragically alter or end someone's life.

Why Drive with a Suspended License? 

The person responsible for killing Susan did not have a heart attack or a seizure. Or a valid license. 

He was driving with a suspended license.

Suspending someone’s license doesn’t physically prevent someone from getting behind the wheel of a car. It just makes the consequences a bit more unpleasant for them  — if they’re caught. 

Would someone risk the penalties, the fines, the potential imprisonment of getting caught — if there were other feasible ways to get around? 

What Happens When Someone’s License is Suspended? 

If someone’s license is suspended, are they taught about other transportation options? 

Or is someone who is used to driving suddenly left to figure it out on their own? 

We cannot know for sure, but it’s possible that had there been other viable transportation options, perhaps the man responsible for Susan’s death would not have gotten behind the wheel of the car.

He is in prison now and while this might bring solace to some, this does little to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.

And the fact that he is in prison does not change the fact that her family and friends will never be able to hear her laugh again.

There ARE Ways to Make Our Streets Safe for All Users

When I posted about Susan’s death the following day in 2015, I said, “We can build and rebuild our cities in ways that respect the rights, safety, and lives of all road users. We need to build infrastructure that separates and protects people on bikes.” 

I should have said, “We can — and must  — build  and  rebuild our cities in ways that respect the rights, safety, and lives of all people" (not just those on bikes). We also need to consider people walking on sidewalks and in crosswalks and people using mobility devices.

It Shouldn't Take Someone's Death to Make Our Streets Safe

Forbes Avenue — particularly the mile-long stretch between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon —  had been identified as a dangerous corridor for decades, and people had been begging for interventions to make it safer. 

The process of making some streets safer in Pittsburgh was dramatically accelerated after Susan’s death. Thanks to the tireless advocacy of countless individuals and BikePGH, the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Oakland — where Susan Hicks worked and was killed — has gotten much safer for everyone.

That this dangerous neighborhood is becoming safer and more accessible for those biking is one happy outcome of the senseless tragedy.

But it should not take the tragic death of someone with well-connected friends in order for our cities to prioritize making our streets safe for all users.

I’d much rather run into Susan on that corner instead of thinking of her in the past tense when I see the ghost bike that marks her crash.

Creating Streets, Cities, and a Society that Respects All 

We need inclusive infrastructure, mobility options that work for people of all ages and abilities, and we need education so people understand the various ways to get around.

• PHYSICAL SEPARATION: We need physical separation so one person’s emergency (or text or other distraction) won’t mean someone else’s serious injury or death. We should immediately install the life-saving infrastructure that separates multi-ton vehicles from those vehicles that weigh under 30 pounds.

• More people will be empowered to embrace the bicycle as a form of transportation if they do not feel intimidated or threatened by sharing city streets with cars -- and we need to make that possible everywhere. 

• ALTERNATIVES: We need viable, reliable, and well-known alternatives to driving so if someone is unable to drive for any reason, they are still able to get where they need to go.

• EDUCATION: We need education to ensure that if someone’s license is suspended temporarily or revoked permanently that they are taught how to easily get around without driving. We need to make it possible for everyone — a licensed driver or not — to be and remain part of our society.

Let's continue to honor Susan's life -- as well as the hundreds of thousands of others who have been killed on our streets since then -- by creating streets, cities, and a society that respects and values all lives -- no matter how they are getting around.