FABB: the injuries and deaths of vulnerable road users are preventable; Fairfax County should act with urgency to adopt much-needed safety measures. Ghost bike roadside memorials like this are placed where a cyclist has been killed or severely injured, usually by the driver of a motor vehicle.
Fairfax County is one of the only jurisdictions in the area that has not adopted Vision Zero, designed to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility.
The Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling (FABB) extends its sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of Fatima Del Carmen Alvarez Romero. According to the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD), on Thursday, June 3, Ms. Alvarez Romero was riding her bike east in the crosswalk to cross Telegraph Road on the south side of the Franconia Road intersection when she was hit by the driver of a 2020 GMC Savanna traveling north on Telegraph. Ms. Alvarez Romero, 24, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her family has started a gofundme page to help pay for her funeral expenses: https://www.gofundme.com/f/fatima-alvarezs-funeral-arrangements
The FCPD states that its investigation remains active and that details of the investigation will be presented to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for review. Anyone with information about this crash is asked to contact FCPD’s Crash Reconstruction Unit at 703-280-0543. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone – 1-866-411-TIPS ( 866-411-8477 ), by text – Type “FCCS” plus tip to 847411. Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 dollars if their information leads to an arrest.
FABB encourages any witnesses to the incident to come forward and provide information to the FCPD. Unfortunately, when a bicyclist is killed in this type of crash, he or she does not have the opportunity to speak as a witness. FABB also encourages the FCPD to undertake a comprehensive investigation so that there is justice for Ms. Alvarez Romero.
Just hours after Ms. Alvarez Romero was killed at Telegraph and Franconia, a pedestrian was hit and killed by a driver at the nearby intersection of South Kings Highway and Southgate Drive. These deaths come just two weeks after the death of bicyclist Raymond Buza, who was killed by a driver in Centreville.
Fairfax County is one of the only jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that has not adopted Vision Zero, a set of policies designed to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all. We call on Fairfax County and the Virginia Department of Transportation to acknowledge that the injuries and deaths of vulnerable road users are preventable and to act with urgency to adopt much-needed safety measures.
About FABB: The Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling (FABB) is a non-profit organization devoted to making bicycling fun, safe, and accessible for people of all ages and abilities in Fairfax County. https://fabb-bikes.org/