Friends Remember Bicyclist Killed

Sun August 30 2009
Posted Aug 30, 2009
9,194

Cumming IA Emily Carlson - WHOTV Reporter August 30, 2009 Friends say Grgurich was an avid and safe biker Friends are grieving the loss of a fellow biker and friend. Sunday afternoon 54 year-old Mark Grgurich was hit and killed by a driver who fled the scene. Friends describe Grgurich as a friendly man always willing to help out. They say he was a very safe bicyclist, and his death is shocking and disturbing. "A lot of us knew Mark. Some of us didn't but the community is upset when it happens when it happens to someone you know. It just makes me very fearful to ride on the roads today as it comes too close to home," says Scott McDonald, a fellow biker and friend of Grgurich. It was supposed to be a day to celebrate the cycling community at the East Village Criterium in Des Moines, but instead a somber feeling filled the air after friends and fellow bikers learned of their friend Mark Grgurich's death. Shock and disbelief were common feelings. Friends tell us Grgurich was a very safe biker who always wore his helmet and stayed to the side of the road. They say his death by a hit and run driver doesn't make sense. But the Citizens of Safety Coalition of Iowa say Grgurich's death is just another example of why bikers shouldn't be on the road. The newly formed group is circulating a petition urging the legislature to support a ban on bicyclists on so called farm-to-market roads like the one Mark was riding on when he was killed. "Bicyclists are that much more hard to see. If they're not here it would make it a lot easier for everyone," says Dan Jones of the Citizens for Safety Coalition of Iowa. The group says they have nothing against cyclists. They claim shared roadways are no longer safe, and there's too many accidents and too many bikers killed. So far they have about 800 signatures on their ballot. WATCH VIDEO