On Saturday evening, Pablo Avendano, 34, was traveling east in the bike lane at Spring Garden and 10th streets when he was struck and killed by a driver in a Mitsubishi SUV.
Avendano was reportedly riding for food delivery service Caviar at the time of the accident. According to police, Avendano was knocked off his bike and run over by the car. Investigators said Avendano was in the designated bike lane on Spring Garden around 7:40 p.m. when he was hit. Heavy rains fell off and on Saturday afternoon and night in parts of the city.
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Avendano was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the SUV reportedly stayed on the scene with police and fire officials. No charges have been filed and no arrests were made.
Avendano also was an employee of Sparrow Cycling Couriers. According to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the bike lane where Avendano was struck is one of the busiest east-west bike lanes north of Center City. The coalition said that, though the lane was restriped last summer, there is no painted buffer in the area of the accident.
Avendano’s death comes just days before the Ride of Silence, an internationally organized ride held in honor of cyclists struck by motor vehicles scheduled for Wednesday. The Philadelphia biking community has been quick to highlight Avendano as one of several victims to be remembered during the local ride.
Last November another cyclist was fatally struck by a garbage truck while traveling in Center City, the third bicycling fatality in Philadelphia of 2017. Twenty-four-year-old Emily Fredricks was killed on a Tuesday morning near 11th and Spruce streets.