July 2: Death in Central Square
     A bicyclist was killed Tuesday afternoon, July 2 in Central Square, Cambridge. According to accounts in the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald, the victim was a Dana Laird, a 36-year-old woman from 2 Lawrence Street in Cambridgeport. The incident happened at about 3:45pm.
     She was riding west in the bike lane between Brookline and Norfolk St. when the driver's side door of a parked car was opened onto the bike lane. The police have concluded that she hit the door causing her to fall into the travel lane just as an MBTA bus was passing. Her head was crushed under the right rear wheel of the bus and she died right then and there.
     The bus was entirely within the travel lane and stopped immediately. The Boston Globe account notes that the driver of the SUV (Mass. plate 165-YGB, registration sticker expired in May) who “doored” the bicyclist was issued a ticket at 6pm. It was later disclosed that the driver was cited for an expired registration and for opening his door onto traffic. Police have not disclosed the identity of the driver whose negligence led to this death.

Scene of the fatality in Central Square