On the morning of June 24, investigators were working to identify a woman who was struck and killed by a pickup truck as she bicycled on Highway 2/97 near Cashmere. The driver of the pickup, 17-year-old Nicolas G. Theiss, told State Police he’d been up all night and had fallen asleep at the wheel.

She was just one of the tens of thousands of Americans killed each year by automobiles.

The victim, Jill Spanjer, the director of the Wenatchee Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, as well as a wife and mother, was riding along the highway’s broad shoulder, when the pickup veered out of its lane and struck her.

The Federal Highway Administration tracks bicycle accidents, and, by its numbers, the type of accident that happened to Spanjer is relatively rare. It’s classified as “motorist overtaking - failed to detect,” and it accounts for only 1.3 percent of all bicycle crashes.

However, Spanjer’s death was not a freak accident—it was a negligent act, and it resulted in the death of another human being. It was brought on by the driver’s choice to ignore the laws and regulations put in place to prevent just such an event.

Automobile “accidents” kill 44,000 Americans every year—tragically tearing loved ones from their families and throwing lives and communities into disarray.

Everyone who rides has considered the possibility. You can’t help but think about it. So, Spanjer’s death hit home for many of us who may not have known her, but ride bicycles as she did.

Ask how such deaths can be prevented, and you get few answers. We accept the automobile and the carnage it leaves in its wake as a necessary element of our modern world.

Now try to imagine how casually society would view lawnmowers or washing machines if they claimed as many lives.

This article was compiled by David Hiller, with permission, from a number of Wenatchee World articles and editorials that appeared between June 24 and July 9, 2004.