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Followimg the death of Associate Medicine Professor Maurice Attie earlier this month, the Fairmount Park Commission voted to ban cars on West River Drive on weekends from 7 a.m. until noon throughout the summer. Attie, a professor at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, was struck and killed by a drunk driver while bicycling on West River Drive, the evening of April 5. Attie's death renewed the debate over the best way to safely accomodate the cyclists who use the drives along the Schuykill River for training, recreation and commuting. The June through August car ban was made possible in part because of a $30,000 grant from CoreStates Bank that will pay for permanent gates. In a statment to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Noel Weyrich, president of the Bicycle Coalition of the Delaware Valley, said he is not sure that the commission's new decision will be effective. "We believe Dr. Attie would be alive today if Fairmount Park had followed through with a report they released almost two years ago," Weyrich said. "They have done nothing to dissuade motorists from using West River Drive as the Schuylkill Expressways's kid brother." According to Weyrich, the report released two years ago included the closing of West River Drive to cars from dawn to dusk, from May to October. He said he is unhappy with the new ruling, which only bans cars before noon. "Eighty percent of cycling takes place after noon," Weyrich told The Inquirer. "Rushing out there before noon, before they let the cars go, that's something -- but it's not recreation." William Mifflin, president of the Fairmount Park Commission, said he would like to accomodate the wishes of the cyclists, but that there is no simple solution to the problem. "I do feel we should reclaim the park for users," Mifflin told the Inquirer. "I think closing the river drives would be a marvelous idea. I would have liked to have jumped right into this thing, to [ban cars] 12 hours both days. It is just not realistic. But we are moving toward that." Attie was heading north on his bicycle on West River Drive when he was struck and killed by Ronald White, 25, of the 7900 block of Fayette Street, police said. Investigators said White, who was later charged with drunk driving, was also heading north at the time of the accident.

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