At 8:35 am on a typical weekday, Seven Lakes Drive is quiet — and this day was no different.
“I never saw it coming,” said Northsider Kurt Kreuger. “The first thing I realized was that I was airborne, and I was going sideways on my bike.”
A retired firefighter and an avid long-distance cyclist, Kreuger is conscientious about safety. To the point of being annoyingly hyper-conscious, his wife, Barbara Keating, will argue.
His jersey was brightly-colored, he was wearing a helmet and riding as far right on the travel lane as possible, and he had specifically chosen that time of day — after the morning school buses and office commuters have headed out — for his thrice-per-week, 30-mile training rides to Carthage and back.
The sun was shining, traffic was light, and the “it” he never saw coming was a passing motor vehicle.
Kreuger is grateful for what didn’t happen.
“I was lucky,” he told The Times. “It was a glancing blow, and the fortunate part is that I landed in an area that was moist and soft soil. If it had been rocky, or if I had been hit just a bit more centered, I would have been in worse shape.”
Despite his positive outlook, the fact is that the impact was violent enough to wedge the passing motor vehicle’s mirror into the frame of Kreuger’s bike and to permanently weld shut the buckle clips on his specialty biking shoes. Medical tests are still underway as doctors continue to treat damage to his hip and knee.
And his days of solo biking along lonely stretches of rural roadways are also over — a personal favor for his wife.
“From now on, I’ll be driving my bike over to Southern Pines a few times a week to participate in a group ride,” explained Kreuger.
“When you ride with ten or fifteen riders, even a driver who isn’t paying close attention won’t overlook you. Your visibility is greatly enhanced.”
County could be more bike-friendly
However, what he finds most ironic about his accident was that it occurred within days of listening to a lecture by cycling activist Mia Birk.
A professional planning consultant and an adjunct professor, Birk authored Joyride: Pedaling Toward a Healthier Planet and is credited with remaking Portland, Oregon, into what is widely considered the most bike and pedestrian-friendly city in the nation. Sponsored by FirstHealth and Tour de Moore, among others, Birk’s two-day visit to Moore County included meetings with local planners, recreation leaders, and citizens to discuss opportunities and options to make our communities more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly.
Unfortunately, Moore County has a long way to go.
“In talking to the highway patrolmen,” Krueger said, “I was told that this particular area is the most dangerous part of the county to bike in. The part that makes it so inviting — because it is so rural and quiet — are also the same reasons the ride is dangerous.”
“Ninety percent of the time, cars graciously give me space on the road; but wouldn’t it be nice if, when they repaved Seven Lakes Drive, that they could have widened it to accommodate bikes? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a safe path all the way from Seven Lakes down to the West End ballfield?” Kreuger asked. “We’re talking about four feet of pavement, and it is low maintenance because there is no real weight on a multi-use trail.”
A fellow biking and walking enthusiast, Barbara Keating said Krueger’s accident was a horrible way to prove an obvious point.
“We moved here because this is an incredibly beautiful area,” she said. “I would like to get out and bike more, but I don’t feel safe. Even inside the gates, people drive over the speed limit. And I’ve told people, I fear more for my husband’s life when he is biking in Moore County than when he rode up and down the Pacific Coast Highway.”
Even more frustrating, Keating explained, is that an NC Department of Transportation program was passed and funded in 2009 to encourage more multiuse trails; but, so far, it hasn’t been implemented.
Looking for such an improvement to be added to the upcoming Hwy 211 widening project, Keating was told NCDOT officials weren’t sure if there was enough interest to justify the expense.
“I say, build it and they will come,” she said. “I think when DOT is looking at any proposal, they should be considering bike paths like at Hilton Head, where they are fabulous.”
Kreuger agreed.
“In Hilton Head everything is connected: the homes, the stores, the restaurants,” he explained.”Here we live in this great part of the country where we have the opportunity to get out and see it, to really enjoy it and experience it, but we get hemmed in because it is too dangerous to go out and walk or to bike.”
“So everyone drives.”
“I picked what I thought was the safest time to ride and it wasn’t,” Kreuger continued. “And the problem is, the situation here will only get worse. There are more and more young people coming. This is a great place to live and parents have an expectation that it is safe here.”
“There is funding out there for roadways and schools and we should be able to tap into that. I’m not talking about putting in 100 miles of bike trail: I’m talking about putting in maybe one mile here, or a few miles there to start with.”
He continued, “This area is transitioning. It’s not just about farmers and retirees, but now there are families. It is better to be out in front of change, anticipating it.”
