A longtime D.C. bike advocate was struck and killed by the driver of a stolen van in Trinidad on Friday morning.

Dave Salovesh, a 54-year-old information technology professional, was extremely active in D.C.’s cycling community. He penned pieces about the need for protected bike lanes, and routinely called for better enforcement and investments in cycling infrastructure.

“I never knew him as anything but a bicycle advocate,” says Rudi Riet, who befriended Salovesh a decade ago at a weekly bicycling coffee club. “He lived and breathed making the streets safe.”

Riet, who does advocacy for Jump bikes,  says that Salovesh wanted his teenage daughter “to have the freedom to ride to school safely. He wanted everybody to have their safe way to get from point A to point B in something other than a car. He was really trying to make the street safe for everyone.”

In addition to his bike advocacy work, Riet says that his friend “loved good music, he loved good jokes, he loved a good beer. He was a guy who has a wicked sense of humor and the most caring hug.” Salovesh lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood with his common-law wife, Jean DeStefano, and their 16-year-old daughter. He moved to D.C. from Chicago in 1997, and worked in IT for the last ten years at the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund.

The crash happened around 10 a.m. at 12th Street and Florida Avenue NE.

The Metropolitan Police Department says an automated license plate reader in the area alerted police to a stolen white van. Officers tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver kept going.

The van sped westbound on Florida Avenue NE and ran a red light at 12th Street, hitting a blue Hyundai before crossing the double yellow lines and hitting Salovesh, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Police Department. The driver then crashed into a tree.

Salovesh died on the scene.

D.C. police charged 25-year-old Robert Earl Little Jr. with second-degree murder and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Little was transported to a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the blue Hyundai did not sustain any injuries.

In his Greater Greater Washington profile, Salovesh wrote that he started riding a bike to get around Chicago more than 30 years ago.

“I am sad, angry, and in a state of shock,” said Washington Area Bicycle Association Greg Billing on Twitter. “Dave was an outspoken advocate for safer streets and dedicated father. My prayers are with his family tonight.”

Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen wrote that Salovesh was a friend and “someone that always pushed us to be better and do more.”

While it’s not clear what role, if any, road design played in the crash, cyclists have called on the District Department of Transportation to make changes to that stretch of Florida Avenue since a pedestrian was killed in the area in 2013. WABA and other advocates asked DDOT to redesign the road to reduce “rampant” speeding.

Florida ave has long felt like a barrier, a freeway, and a dangerous stretch of road to ride on. There are residences no more than 10 feet away from vehicles traveling at a minimum of 45mph. This should be changed for residents and all street users.

— The Daily Rider (@TheDailyRiderDC) April 19, 2019

In 2017, DDOT completed preliminary plans to install protected bike lanes nearby, but project updates have been limited since. The bike lanes would stretch from 3rd to 9th Street on Florida Avenue NE.

In the wake of the crash, cyclists were critical of the delay in progress, while Allen pledged to continue pressing the District Department of Transportation on the project.

Someone died today because our city government is dragging their feet in installing safe bike routes. A Florida Ave road diet has been in the works for a long time, but our leaders are not brave enough to step up to protect their constituents.

— Matthew S, manic pixie dream public transit crush (@riotpedestrian) April 19, 2019

At times, I wish the legislative branch built the roads. I’ve pressed DDOT on Florida Ave redesign at every oversight hearings, wrote & pushed for more aggressive VisionZero laws, argued for more funding for pedestrian/cyclist safety – and I’ll continue to fight for these things.

— Charles Allen (@charlesallen) April 19, 2019

Three bicyclists were killed in 2018. Despite the city’s commitment to Vision Zero, a plan to reduce deaths on the road, D.C. had seen an uptick in traffic-related fatalities in recent years.

Six people have died in traffic-related crashes in the District so far in 2019, two fewer people than this time last year.

In one recent Twitter discussion, Salovesh wrote: “Good reminder that protecting sidewalks and bike lanes isn’t just about keeping well-controlled travelers in their spaces. Vision Zero would say, approximately, ‘people make mistakes, but nobody has to die from that.'”

His last tweet was a call to action to develop more bike facilities.

Riet believes he knows what his friend would want people to take away from his death: “I think he would want people not to mourn him but get angry and make the streets safe.”

This story has been updated.