I normally reserve articles in this BUMPS (Bicyclists United with Motorcyclists and Pedestrians for Safety) group to those happening regionally around the Ludington area.  However, a recent bicycle accident that took place outside a city poised between Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. has affected the Ludington community, because the two-wheeled victim had been a highly respected volunteer for the Ludington Police Department for six years, establishing a digital forensics lab where none existed before.  

LPD's retired Digital Forensics Expert Analyst Stephen Marx rose early on the morning of Monday, October 19th and went for a bicycle ride.  That ride ended when he was hit while crossing a parkway.  The Capital Gazette tells the most complete story of this tragedy.

ODENTON, MD — Police say a 70-year-old bicyclist died Monday morning in Piney Orchard. Officers identified the victim as Odenton man Stephen Joel Marx.

A report claims that Marx was biking southeast on Old Waugh Chapel Road, crossing its intersection with Piney Orchard Parkway at the time of the accident. A Green 2000 Honda Civic was heading south on Piney Orchard Parkway, the writeup adds. Police allege that the Honda struck the bicyclist in the intersection around 7:40 a.m.

The police report notes that Marx suffered life-threatening injuries. Medics took him to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore where he died from his wounds, officers write.

Police identified the driver as Steven Leibnyz Puguero. They say the 23-year-old Upper Marlboro man and his 21-year-old College Park passenger were not hurt.

Officers do not think drugs nor alcohol played a role in the accident. The Traffic Safety Section of the Anne Arundel County Police Department is investigating the crash.

The two photos of the intersection shown here, illustrate that Marx's route (green arrow) was in the path of the driver's route (red arrow).  It appears that the driver and bicyclist should have been able to see each other well before they crashed.  Conditions are not stated, but in Odenton that day there was no precipitation or fog and the morning was windless.  Additionally, it should be noted that at the time of the accident, it was 46 minutes after dawn, so there was plenty of light, but neither traveler would be looking into the low sun since the cyclist was traveling SE and the car was being effectively driven SW.  

The speed limit of the parkway was a very modest 40 mph, if Steven Peguero (the CG misspelled his last name) had been following that speed limit and paying attention to a bicyclist that likely stopped before he tried to cross the parkway, one wonders why Peguero didn't adjust his driving to avoid the collision with the 70 year old bicyclist, who may have struggled getting up to speed when crossing the parkway on his bike, if he didn't walk it across.  

Old bicyclists only get that way by being smart young bicyclists and wise middle-aged bicyclists first.  Someone with a career in customs and law enforcement should have a clear understanding of what was the safe thing to do that morning.  One thinks that he would know the speed limit for that parkway and not start across the road without a firm belief he could make it.  

Sadly, he didn't, so now he must rely on the forensic capabilities of the Anne Arundel County Police Department to figure out what happened here.  One can hope the 20 year old Honda Civic has a crash data retrieval system that reliably recorded the car's speed and the investigators use that data.  If Marx had difficulties getting up to speed, which is another alternative, it's still hard to give the motorist a pass since they have a general duty to exercise proper precaution upon observing any confused or incapacitated person on a roadway in any place operating under the Uniform Traffic Code, see R 28.1716.  

On October 26, the Ludington City Council honored Stephen Marx for his years of service by officially designating the LPD's digital forensics lab as the Stephen Marx Digital Forensics Lab.  One hopes the LPD will honor Marx by making sure the investigation of his death by Maryland police is thorough and unprejudiced against the bicyclist as most police bicycle crash investigations are.  One further hopes they would then do that themselves for other accidents involving vulnerable users of the streets in their own jurisdiction.  Stephen Marx's obituary from a Maryland funeral home follows.

Stephen Joel Marx, a resident of Odenton, MD, suddenly passed away on Monday, October 19, 2020. He was 70. Stephen was born on May 5, 1950 in Detroit, MI, and was the son of the late Herman H. Marx and Carolyn (nee Meehan) Marx.

Steve taught for five years after graduating from Michigan State University. He then joined the U.S. Customs Service working as an Inspector for 5 years then a Special Agent and Resident Agent in Charge for 21 years. When he retired from Customs he immediately went to work at DEA as a Contract Computer Forensic Examiner. After his second retirement he developed a Police Computer Forensics Lab in Ludington, MI which he ran, and trained officers until 2017. Steve was always involved in whatever community he lived in, volunteering with the Cub Scouts when his sons were young and being very active in various HOAs, on Covenant Committees, as President, and most recently as treasurer. He was always eager to help anyone with computer issues. Everything he did was for his family and community.

Stephen is survived by his beloved wife of 47 years, Janet Marx of Odenton, MD; two loving sons, Adam Marx (Melanie) of Odenton, MD and Jordan Marx (Jessica) of Jessup, MD; two cherished grandchildren, Calvin and Rayna Marx; two devoted brothers, Alan Marx (Cindy) of West Bloomfield, MI and Greg Marx (Bridgett) of West Palm Beach, FL; in laws Tom (Ann) Selby of Haslett, MI; Peg (Bill) Pearson of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Dave (Deb) Selby of Omaha, and many loving nieces, nephews and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Ludington Police Department, Digital Forensics Lab (D.F.L.), 408 Harrison Street, Ludington, MI 49431.

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Replies to This Discussion

Tragic death, yes. And a nice memorial tribute to a man who donated his time to Ludington police and fire departments. It isn't until someone of "greater" notoriety gets killed on a bicycle do governments seem to take notice and perhaps vow to make safer bicycle lanes.

Here in Ludington is there much memory of Richard Swiger for instance? How about the younger man who last month lost his life on a bicycle on US10 and was criticized by some for being a sex offender. How are others memorialized? I hope Ludington city planners slow down their chaotic clique to bring in tourist traffic (with little for bicycle and pedestrian traffic considerations) and really make Stephen Marx's memorial mean something.

The City of Ludington wasn't in control of the two accidents on US 10 that you mention, but one hopes that the county board or at least PM or Amber Township will use their influence on MDOT to fix the engineering problems on that stretch and encourage the MCSO to recognize those issues when they contribute to a traffic tragedy to a vulnerable user of the road.

When new bicycle facilities arrive on M-116, I think it would be a good tribute to name them after Marx or some other notable local bicyclist that has died while riding.  When I rode my bicycle past a stop sign unlawfully and unsafely placed beyond the crosswalk on Loomis and William and was ticketed for it back in 2008, that sign was eventually moved back before the crosswalk.  That stop sign in it's new place is my memorial.  

You are right, X, about planning issues along US10 in PM and Amber townships being out of the immediate hands of city planners, but oh how these traffic jams with basically mostly only one way west into town for the Macker, for instance, and other tourist events affect the townships and county traffic along the US 10 corridor and it seems every year to just get bigger and create more traffic nightmares  for cars, motorcycles,  bikes and pedestrians.

The need for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure increase as our draw for tourism increases.  I hope our new city manager's priorities continue with smart development of those types of facilities, I hope our city council can catch the fire.  It can't be done in a matter of years, but it would be awesome for them to show a five year plan for improving such facilities and live up to it.  

The directed sidewalk plans they have made and the work they did on the Tinkham sidewalks, making them fully connected on the south side of Tinkham, was commendable.  I would like to see something smart planned for next year when the budget comes out and start seeing some investments from the capital improvement plan for 2023 (the as-yet unplanned third year of the cip).  I'll also have to check out whether they are living up to the sidewalk improvements they agreed to do 'within a year' in the Fourth Ward as a condition of settlement to the OMA lawsuit dealing with the splash pad.

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