On Wednesday, September 3, 2008, Dr. John Borgerhoff was involved in a bicycle accident on the Monon Trail just north of the Kessler Avenue bridge. Although wearing a helmet, he received injuries that caused a coma. Dr. Borgerhoff passed away from his injuries. He is survived by his wife Michele and four children Barb, Steve, Evrard, and Ian. His family asked me to write an article in the Gazette asking trail users to keep safety on their minds.

I asked Karina Straub, manager of Indy Parks Greenways, about safety on the trail. I requested a list of reported accidents on the trail and inquired about possible speed limits. First, Karina said, "Our thoughts and prayers go to the Borgerhoff family."

In 2007 1.3 million user visits were recorded on the Monon, up from 1.2 million in 2006. There are 22 full-time and 11 reserve park rangers to patrol the 10 miles of the Monon Trail as well as the 205 other Indy Parks properties totalling 11,000 acres.

Carmel has trail speed limits in effect. In the high-density downtown regions the limit is 15 MPH. The speed limit on the rest of the trail is 20 MPH.

Karina said she checked with Carmel authorities in late summer 2007 to find out how their trail speed limits were working out. At that time there had been no trail speeding tickets issued.

"I went out and tracked about 175 bikers. I got an average of 17.2 MPH (lowest measured was 11 and highest was 24)," explained Karina. "Looking at what Carmel was implementing, 15 to 20, I felt we were pretty average. Therefore, at the time, I didn't feel it was a good use of public safety resources to be out tracking speed limits on our trails. But that we would continue to look for ways to deter user conflict and should we need to put up speed limits, we certainly will if the time comes."

Park rangers compiled a list of IMPD (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department) runs during 2007 in the vicinity of the trail. While there were 15 calls listed, there was not a single accident report. All of the calls were for assaults or larcenies, and some of those 15 were not trail related.

I asked Karina about the procedure for when an accident would happen on the trail and a police report would be filed. She said IMPD has no system for relaying trail-related police reports to the Greenways office. Currently, someone in Greenways hears about an incident and then requests the police report.

Karina said that the local biking clubs have encouraged their riders to only use the Monon Trail for getting to and from a long-distance ride. She pointed out that the trail is for recreation use and supports walkers, runners, roller bladers, and bikers. More intense uses, such as speed biking, should be enjoyed elsewhere.

I asked Karina if there is a speeding problem on the trail. She said there have been no official complaints and no accidents reported, only some word-of-mouth comments. She reiterated the importance of reporting all accidents. Local government needs a report of incidents indicating that a problem exists before it can attempt to solve the problem. Complaints, unsafe trail conditions, and comments about the trail should be directed to the Greenways office at 64th and Cornell by calling (317) 7431 during office hours and (317) 327-3811 after hours. Of course, emergencies should always go to 911.

I will print a trail safety message from Karina in the next issue. It is the text of a public service message she recorded for local television broadcast last year.