📰BIDDEFORD | Triumph and Tragedy | We Need to Be Proactive

November 21, 2025, This past Sunday November 16th was the 2025 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. It’s an annual international day to remember those who have been killed on our roads and streets in the past year. The Bicycle Coalition of Maine has publicly stated that so far in 2025 Maine has seen 209 crashes involving pedestrians resulting in 40 serious injuries and 19 fatalities. Our state has also seen 198 crashes involving bicyclists resulting in 29 serious injuries and 5 fatalities. One of those bicyclist fatalities was in Biddeford. More on that later…

New completed bike lanes, Hill Street, Biddeford

We want to extend a big thank you to the Biddeford Public Works Department as they put the final touches (for now), on the big resurfacing project on Hill St. from Fall St. to West St. By installing the No Parking signs in accordance with the ordinance change to ban parking along this stretch of Hill St., the newly assigned space for the curb side bicycle lanes should stay clear of parked cars. Also there are some new 25mph speed limit signs, a more narrow travel lane in each direction, “25MPH” pavement markings, “SLOW” pavement markings, solar powered radar speed read out signs that display how heavy a foot a driver has on the gas pedal. These signs also display a message to “Slow Down” or a Happy Face. These digital signs are providing some help by reminding drivers not to go over the posted speed limit. This is important because the speed of motor vehicles is one of the major factors that determine the severity of injuries resulting from a crash. 

New bike lanes, even unprotected ones, are a triumph and are worth celebrating anytime they are added to a road given the car dependent culture that has been dominant in Biddeford for decades. The fact that the Biddeford City Council took the steps that they did to assure that the new bike lanes are not constantly blocked with parked cars is absolutely worth pulling the champagne cork for. Thank you Council. It would also seem appropriate to add a new bike rack to go along with all the new car parking spaces created at St. Louis Fields. 

It’s a good step in the right direction for active transportation, safe routes to school and overall street safety. Studies show that making streets safer for cycling improves their safety for all modes of travel including automobiles. 

In October of this year the Vision Zero Cities Conference was held in New York City. Complete Streets and Vision Zero are the two most successful policies being adopted by cities to improve street safety. Traditionally part of the process of a Vision Zero policy is for a municipality to analyze crash data to map out the most dangerous parts of their road system. This results in an understanding of where problem spots are and aids in the creation of a High Injury Network. At this year’s conference there was talk of how we should instead be using that data to think in terms of a Prioritized Investment Network. High Injury Network and Prioritized Investment Network are similar except that HIN is more of a backwards looking reactionary approach and PIN is more of a proactive approach. In other words, work towards preventing crashes before they occur. 

Now, let’s go back to the fact that a cyclist was killed just two months ago in Biddeford.

A small memorial at the site of where a bicyclist was struck by a vehicle on Foss Street, Biddeford

The crash site is located just two short blocks from Hill St. at the intersection of Fall St. and Foss St. If you visit the site today you can observe a bunch of yellow markings on the street that were placed there to help analyze the scene and get a picture and some understanding of what happened. With the victim on the ground unconscious and the driver of the UPS truck that was involved, in a complete state of trauma, statements given at the scene are incomplete at best. A couple of things we know for certain just from observation is that this intersection is safety compromised by poor sight lines and the lack of stop signs on Foss St. Stop signs that a resident at the intersection has been wanting for some time and the daughter of the victim has expressed a desire for. 

The Vision Zero Network says that VZ recognizes that people are human and will sometimes make mistakes, so the road system and related policies should be designed to ensure those inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injuries or fatalities. This means that system designers and policymakers are expected to improve the roadway environment, policies (such as speed management), and other related systems to lessen the severity of crashes. Vision Zero acknowledges that many factors contribute to safe mobility -- including roadway design, speeds, behaviors, technology, and policies -- and sets clear goals to achieve the shared goal of zero fatalities and severe injuries.

The stop signs should be added to Foss St. now, but this is the reactionary approach. We need to be proactive. The improvements to Hill St. are a great proactive step. Our hope is that we can move Biddeford and Saco forward towards becoming one of the most bikeable and walkable areas in Maine. To do so we should be adopting both a Complete Streets policy and a Vision Zero initiative and working with our sister city across the river. 

Patrick Conlon

Bike BS

Patrick Conlon speaks to members of the Biddeford City Council

Patrick Conlon is the founder of Bike BS and currently serves on both the City of Biddeford’s 

Sustainability Commission and Conservation Commission.

Bike BS is a nongovernmental (NGO) advocacy organization focused on creating a more bicycle friendly Biddeford & Saco Maine; the organization promotes group rides, bike racks, bicycle infrastructure, safer streets for all & more.