A bicyclist is in critical condition after being hit by a car early Monday morning near Broadway and Skinner in south Wichita, as the rider tried to cross the street. The crash happened around 6:50 a.m.
According to kwch.com, the collision occurred on south Broadway near Skinner, and the bicyclist was hit by the car while attempting to cross the street. The rider was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the station reported. KAKE attributed its information to a Wichita Police Department sergeant, and additional information was not immediately available.
Wichita’s crash history shows that bike and pedestrian collisions have been a broader safety concern: preliminary city data covering 2008 through 2018 counted 1,818 crashes involving people walking or biking, including 921 involving bicyclists. The review also identified clusters along Broadway, among other corridors. Those figures are historical, not a count of current-year crashes, but they put the latest collision on a street with a documented history of such incidents. Minutes of Wichita’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board recorded the findings.
Driver Cooperating as Investigation Continues
The driver of the car involved in Monday's crash is cooperating with the investigation, per the same account. Beyond that, authorities have not released further information about the crash, including what led up to the moment the bicyclist entered the roadway.
Additional information was not immediately available.
A Second South Wichita Bicycle Crash This Year
The city has also identified Broadway as a corridor for safety improvements, though its current priority project focuses on a different stretch: between 11th and 3rd streets. Wichita says the plan is intended to recommend ways to make that section safer for people traveling along and across the avenue, building on earlier neighborhood and pedestrian planning work. The project reflects ongoing attention to how people walking and biking use Broadway, but does not establish what caused Monday’s crash near Skinner. Wichita’s Broadway corridor plan outlines the project area and goals.
Monday's crash is not the only serious bicycle collision to hit south Wichita this year. In May, a man riding a bicycle northbound on South Hydraulic was hit by an unknown vehicle that then drove off, according to kwch.com's earlier report. That bicyclist, identified only as a 43-year-old man, was also taken to the hospital in serious condition.
In that case, police arrested a 21-year-old man for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident resulting in great bodily harm. By contrast, the driver in Monday's south Broadway crash is cooperating with the investigation.
Kansas law generally gives people riding bicycles on a roadway the same rights—and subjects them to the same duties—as drivers, with exceptions for provisions that do not apply to bicycles. That rule provides statewide context for roadway interactions, but it does not establish fault in this collision; police have not released details about how the rider entered the street or the events immediately before impact. Kansas’ bicycle traffic statute sets out the general rule.
