Fatal Crash In West Bend

The intersection of Kilbourn and Indiana has good sight lines and a 4-way stop. (Google Maps Street View)

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A 57-year-old bicyclist died Sunday as a result of injuries she sustained after being struck by a vehicle Nov. 6, West Bend Police Department said Monday.

Police identified the bicyclist as Marjean C. Boots of West Bend.  She died at Froedtert Hospital.

A preliminary investigation determined Boots was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, police said.

It does not appear that alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash, police said.

On the evening of Nov. 6, police said they received a call that a bicyclist had been struck by a vehicle at the intersection of S. Indiana and W. Kilbourn avenues.

The driver of the vehicle was a 38-year-old man from West Bend, police said.

The accident remains under investigation by the West Bend Police Department with assistance from the Wisconsin State Patrol.

In an earlier report, the time of the accident was given as “shortly after 5 p.m.”

Sundown was at 4:37 p.m.  I am much more interested in knowing whether the bicyclist had deployed front and rear lights as required by law than in knowing that she didn’t wear a helmet, which is not required by law.  Media outlets commonly report the absence of a helmet in bicycle accidents, but to what end?  The implication is that riders without helmets were reckless and otherwise might have avoided serious injury or death.  That’s a poor assumption.