About five months after a UF student riding her bicycle near Midtown was killed by a garbage truck, one of her best friends hopes to teach his peers at UF about bicycle safety.
Abigail Dougherty, a 20-year-old UF applied physiology and kinesiology senior, died following the October 28 accident, one that shook the Student Body over the next days.
She had been a proponent of improving Gainesville’s bicycle lanes and overall bicycle safety, said her friend Aditya Mahadevan.
In her honor, Mahadevan, 20, teamed up with UF Campus Diplomats, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Florida Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety and Regional Transit System to organize a bicycle safety event on the Plaza of the Americas.
“I wanted her life to have a broader impact,” the 20-year-old said.
The organizations gave students brochures with bicycle safety information, and the Florida Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety gave away 80 helmets.
Event organizers held a raffle, which students could enter after receiving two safety brochures. Students got brochures after answering a question about bicycle safety, receiving a helmet or writing a safety tip on a whiteboard and taking a picture with it.
The raffle prizes were eight $10 and $15 gift cards from restaurants like Starbucks, Cold Stone Creamery and Cookiegazm.
Paul Simpson, the Florida Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety operations manager, said the red and black helmets, made from a dense foam with a plastic shell, were funded through a Florida Department of Transportation grant.
Simpson said he adjusted helmets for students so they knew how to wear them correctly.
“You know, you spend 60 to 80 thousand dollars on your school, you might as well protect your brain,” Simpson said he told students.
Kevin Kim, a UF chemical engineering junior who helped organize the event, said he never knew Dougherty personally.
Kim, Mahadevan’s mentor in their pre-health fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Delta, said Dougherty’s death reminded him of a high-school friend who died in a car crash.
He wanted to help students learn to be safe on the road.
“I thought the only way to get people reeled in to bicycle safety was giving them free stuff,” the 21-year-old said.
Yajaira Varillas, a UF chemical engineering junior, received a free helmet on her way to Smathers Library, which she’ll need after purchasing a bicycle soon, she said.
“I learned people don’t really watch out for cyclists, but they should,” the 22-year-old said.
Mahadevan said he appreciated seeing students come together to learn about bicycle safety after Dougherty’s death.
“She’d be happy that something positive came out of it,” Mahadevan said.
Contact Jimena Tavel at jtavel@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @taveljimena
Conor MacDonnell, a 25-year-old UF soil and water science graduate student, receives a free bicycle helmet at the Keep Calm and Helmet On event held by UF Campus Diplomats, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Florida Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety and Regional Transit System. Paul Simpson, a 50-year-old PedBike Safety Resource Center employee, demonstrated how to properly strap a helmet.
