Just a day after a study say the roads may be becoming safer for cyclists, something like this happens to remind us of our mortality. Times reporter Stephanie Garry has the story:

UPDATE: An arrest has been made.

[Photo by Stephanie Garry | Times]

ST. PETERSBURG -- Police say they have arrested the driver of a truck that killed a bicyclist and injured nine others in a hit-and-run crash last night.

Denise Battles, 18, was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash and vehicular homicide. Police say she ran away after the crash and was arrested at a local hospital where she was being treated for minor injuries suffered in the crash.

The driver did not have a license, police say. Nine people were injured.

Police spokesman Bill Proffitt said the incident began when police spotted a 2008 Dodge pickup driving erratically on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street S near 22nd Avenue. Police tried to stop the truck, but the driver kept going north "at a very high rate of speed and in a reckless manner." The Dodge had two passengers.

When the truck got to the 1300 block of King Street, it lost control and slid toward the northwest corner of 13th Avenue S, "went airborne," struck a fire hydrant and flipped.

The truck struck and killed Steven Mincey, 49, of St. Petersburg, who had been riding his bicycle on the north side of King Street. The truck also struck several people who were outside near Ike's Liquors and four parked vehicles.

Proffitt said police had stopped pursuing the Dodge after its driver began speeding north. He said the two passengers agreed with that account. They told investigators that they had asked the driver to slow down.

Injured at the crash scene and taken to Bayfront Medical Center were James Lewis, who is in critical condition; Cliford Etheridge, stable condition; Kiwaner Robinson, stable condition; Lucretia Mullan, guarded condition; Shalunda Jenkins, treated and released; and Johnny Hutchins, treated and released.

Three people were taken to St. Anthony's Hospital: Michelle Brown, treated and released; Latoya Jackson, treated and released; and Lura Spradley, treated and released.

All of the injured people have St. Petersburg addresses. Ages were not available.

View video from the scene

Nick Griffiths waits to cross Fletcher Ave. as he exits the USF campus on his commute home to New Tampa by bike [Photo by Brian Cassella/Times]

With the price of gas booming, it's no surprise that the bike industry is as well. But with more and more cyclists on the road, you might expect an equal rise in the number of accidents and deaths.

But that's not quite the case, according to a new study from the University of New South Wales:

Studies in many countries have shown consistently that the number of motorists colliding with walkers or cyclists doesn't increase equally with the number of people walking or bicycling. For example, a community that doubles its cycling numbers can expect a one-third drop in the per-cyclist frequency of a crash with a motor vehicle.

And in this rare care, the good results actually beget even better results. As more people take to the streets, others will percieve cycling as safe and practical and be more likely to join in.

[via Wired]