Last week on May 6, Hilari Oller was riding home from work at 2AM when she was hit-and-run by a car on W. Oak St near Welch. She says she was in the right lane, when a car hit her left side from behind so hard that the car mirror broke off, cutting her arm open and severing arteries in the process. Eighteen stitches later, she was released from the hospital, found the broken mirror on the road, and she made a police report. The driver is still at large.
Last October, UNT teaching fellow David Gonzalez was struck only a block away. Despite a 2009 city initiative to put in bike lanes on this stretch, the proposal was tabled by the former Traffic Safety Commission. Now in 2011, the city Bike Plan routes look to have steered clear of this part of Oak St, citing fear of backlash from the historic Oak/Hickory neighborhood.