Cyclist killed in West Philadelphia ID’d; was riding in unprotected bike lane
This is Philadelphia's second known bicycle death of 2025.
A cyclist killed Thursday morning in West Philadelphia after being struck by a privately owned construction truck has been identified as Jeffrey Ishibashi, 50, of Lansdowne.
Ishibashi was riding east on Baltimore Avenue around 8:15 a.m. and was struck by a white Mack truck also traveling east on Baltimore as it turned right to go south on 58th Street, police said.
Ishibashi was pronounced dead at the scene. His home address is 2½ miles from the crash site.
He appeared to be riding in the bike lane and had the right-of-way, according to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, based on a member’s review of footage of the incident.
According to police, Ishibashi became lodged under the truck after he was struck.
The bike lane is unprotected and is not separated from car traffic.
Thursday’s incident marked the second cyclist death in Philadelphia in 2025. Michael Buie, 51, was killed crossing Broad Street near Erie Avenue in North Philadelphia in January.
In 2024, 134 fatal vehicle crashes occurred in Philadelphia. Fifty-five pedestrians were killed, as were at least three cyclists, including pediatric oncologist Barbara Friedes, who was also riding in an unprotected bike lane, on Spruce Street.
The incident came in the midst of a spike in pedestrian deaths last summer, and catalyzed action in City Council.
A law was passed in October making it illegal for automobiles to stop in bike lanes in Philadelphia, while local transportation officials are recommending concrete barriers for the bike lanes on Spruce and Pine Streets. The city is also trying to enact regulations to add loading zones on those streets, giving residents a place to unload groceries, idle taxis, or park moving trucks while preserving the bike lanes from those uses.
These reforms are opposed by the Center City Residents Association and the Society Hill Civic Association, which argue they will inconvenience local residents and make it harder for them to park.
Philadelphia’s rate of fatal crashes is far higher than peer cities in the Northeast like New York and Boston. An Inquirer investigation found that between 2020 and 2023, almost 600 people in the city were killed because of automobiles.