There was a motorcycle accident on Kelly Drive Sunday night near the Art Museum. The cops say if this guy had his helmet on he would have lived. Monday night, as I left an event at the Waterworks, I caught the man’s friends putting up a memorial in his honor at the spot where the guy died. 
Cars lined up along Kelly Drive taking up an entire lane for at least a 1/4 mile. because of his death many cycles of lives were affected, he was loved
Closer to the site, some cars were in both lanes.
Friends who were probably with him last night as they raced down Kelly Drive, rev’ed their wheels in a fitting tribute of carelessness creating a lot of unnecessary noise and pollution
and it went on for a few minutes
as they prepared to ride away without any helmets on their heads. 
One by one the cars drove by the make shift memorial
and made made U-Turns into the on coming traffic
one red car, spun his wheels, screeeeeeechhhhh
and did a fish tail
of course, (what an idiot!)
as the long procession made its way back to the neighborhood, I thought were any lessons learned, did he die in vain? Am I just too old to know what is cool? Is riding a motorcycle without a helmet cool, or a cycle of tragedy?
The fateful curve and memorial of teddy bears, messages and candles
he was only 21, and it is very sad because he had his whole life in front of him.
A Fairmount Park Ranger appeared out of nowhere (who knew there were park rangers? [there’s 20]) I asked him what would happen to this memorial. He said that he would have to call it in, the only other one he had ever seen was one in Pennypacker Park where some idiot put up a similar one for the deer that were being killed because over population. Every time the deer sympathizer put it up, we would take it down and toss it. He then called, his supervisor who said that he could keep this one up until someone complains about it. – Well I thought, it’s a park, who is going to complain about it, the runners, bikers, bladers, kids in strollers? Maybe a parent or two can tell their kids how important it is to wear a helmet when you operate a bike, whether it’s motorized or not.
I think statistics will tell you that wearing a helmet improves your chances of surviving an accident. Seriously I’m saddened by anyone’s death and the heartache that it brings, but please, please get over your thoughts of any vanity when it comes to protecting yourself so no one else has to go through this tragic situation.
6 replies on “A Cycle of Tragedy”
I witnessed this fatality. I was driving from East Falls to Fairmount on Kelly Drive early on Sunday night. There were about a dozen sport bikes taking up both lanes on eastbound Kelly drive. There were roughly 11 bikes in the curb side lane and 1 bike in the outer lane. They were driving below the speed limit and driving that way on purpose. They were creating a riding road block and by their actions I think they were quite proud of themselves, and this comes from a fellow cycle rider. The majority of them were wearing no protective gear, they weren\’t riding in any kind of staggered formation, and they seemed to take great pride in \”pissing off\” the motorsits behind them, of which I was one. I remember thinking how they were violating everything I was taught in my motorcycle safety class.
Just before they reached the light at the turn off for Fairmount Ave the guy who was taking one lane to himself lost control of his bike and (I think) him and 3 other bikes went down almost instantaneously. The one guy was lying face down motionless on the roadway. His \”friends\” were trying to turn him over, pick him up, etc. until numerous bystanders were able to impress upon them the need to leave him alone until the paramedics arrived.
The fact is this collision (it was not an accident) was completely avoidable and was caused in its entirety by operator error. That being said as a fellow cycle rider I was stunned by the suddeness of it and the destruction left in it\’s aftermath, both in human and mechanical terms. It was frightening to witness.
Very sad.
The title is very appropriate.
Jordan(that was his name), was my friend, and I am deeply saddened by the tragic even that took place. A little bit of information for those who did not knew him. Jordan was always happy, never sad. Always positive, loved to have a good time, and always helped everyone he knew with anything. He was getting married this saturday, and it is a shame to have lost a dear friend, and my condolences go out to the family. Aside from that, yes it was extremely foolish to ride without a helmet, but still, an accident is an accident. Let\’s not forget that we are all ignorant in our own ways. As for the guy who fishtailed out of there, which by the way was only one guy, It disgraces me that he would act in an uncivil way, and truthfully I do not know why we can\’t just mourn normally. I appreciate the rangers leaving the memorial up, although understood that someday it will have to come down, but for the time being it will be greatly appreciated. i also like to thank the blogger of this site for putting up what would otherwise be an \”uninteresting\” headline up for people to read, thank you.
My message to all:
\”alls fun and games, until someone loses their life. be smart,play smart, live\”
Thank you Chiztro. How tragic for so many people, especially his fiance. I was surprised I did\’t find this story in the newspaper. It would have been nice if someone would have covered it, as I wanted to know more about Jordan, and how such a terrible thing happened. It really comes down to cherish every moment we have in this life, love, laugh and be thankful.
For those people that are ignorant, for those people that don\’t care about nobody but theirselves that instead of giving a helping hand to somebody they critisize…he might have done it wrong to not wear a helmet and he might have done it wrong to be driving carelessly but it does not take back the fact that he is gone.an accident can happen at anytime.there are people everyday who drive cars WITH seatbelts…end up crashing and getting killed wheather they were driving wrecklessly or perfectly.we can\’t ever replace the life of someone but he will live in our hearts forever.he was the bestest friend someone could ever have and until people who critisize know what its like to lose someone very close and important to them they should keep it to themselves.we should be grieving in peace in memory of our friend.thank you.and jordan, we all love and miss you dearly.your in our hearts always.
Your point is well taken, it is a tragedy, but I do wish he wore a helmet and I wish he wasn\’t horsing around. Of course when you\’re 21 you never think something as awful as this could happen. I know I should be dead several times over for stupid things I did. I don\’t do them anymore. RIP Jordan.