Mesa / Tempe Ride of Silence
Tom wrote us to let us know that a group of folks from Mesa will be hosting a Ride of Silence on May 21st at 7pm as one of the many locations around the globe riding that day in honor of cyclists who have been killed or injured on public roadways:
On May 21, 2008, at 7:00 PM, the Ride of Silence will begin in North America and roll across the globe. Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways….The Ride Of Silence is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph and remain silent during the ride. There is no brochure, no sponsors, no registration fees and no t-shirt. The ride, which is held during Bike Safety month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a legal right to the public roadways. The ride is also a chance to show respect for those who have been killed or injured.
The route of the ride will start in Mesa and cross into Tempe:
The ride is 10 miles long and rides at 12 miles per hour. It starts at Alma and Guadalupe and goes west thru Kiwanis park across the Tempe border and then back to the start along the same route.
We are coordinating with Mesa and Tempe police for possible assistance and may possibly have media coverage.
They’ve also got a Google Group setup for more details and discussion about the ride: http://groups.google.com/group/rideofsilencemesa
Full info on the Mesa/Tempe ride as well as other rides in Arizona (and around the world) can be found here
Well, I *would* join the ride…except for the minor little detail that I’ll be having shoulder surgery this coming Tuesday to repair a torn labrum and capsule that resulted from a dislocation…that happened when I got rear-ended by an SUV on January 2nd.
Oh, the ironing.
Maybe I’ll see if I can’t get to Kiwanis to wave left-handed to everybody as they pass….
Cheers,
b&
Ben,
It just keeps happening. That’s what this ride is for……RAISE AWARENESS.
You probably didn’t ride directly into the path of a driver. Moms pushing strollers don’t get hit every week in America. I bet there would be some major backlash if they did.
Instead, it’s “only somebody on a bike”.
Share the road!!!!!
I will be on tour.
Tim,
Indeed I most certainly did not ride directly into her path. She plowed into me from behind and said she “didn’t even see me.” Never mind, of course, that I had taillights (TWO!) as bright as car taillights (NiteRider), an HID headlight (NiteRider MOAB) as bright as a car headlight, a huge fire-engine lime green trunk on the back (it’s — or, rather, it was — a recumbent), and reflective stuff everywhere.
Did I mention? She was speeding, passing on the right, and almost certainly on a cellphone.
Anyway, her insurance paid for a replacement bike. On this one, I’ve doubled the NiteRider gear, added a few super-ultra-bright strobes, and neon side lighting. Rebecca can tell you about it.
Worst case, I’ve given ’em something better to aim for next time….
People are terrified of flying and of terrorists. But we go years at a time without anybody dying from either — and yet not a month passes that the vehicle death count doesn’t equal the worst-ever annual toll from either plane crashes or terrorist attacks.
If thousands of people died every month in plane wrecks, the airline industry would itself have died decades ago. If thousands of people were killed by terrorists every month, we’d be in a state of war the likes of which have never been seen.
But thousands of people are killed each month in car wrecks, and nobody bats an eye.
Un f’in believable.
Cheers,
b&
“But thousands of people are killed each month in car wrecks, and nobody bats an eye.”
more are hurt.
When we will stop the destruction (all forms)?
“When we will stop the destruction (all forms)?”
I don’t think we, as a society, have any interest in the slightest of stopping vehicular destruction. It’s not even on the radar.
However, almost everybody I speak with sees $4-5 / gallon a gas coming Real Soon Now, and, in that context, none of them think I’m crazy for preferring to bike. In reality, $10 / gallon is much closer than most people realize.
The end of cheap oil is going to devastate our economy, but it /will/ get people out of their cars. And, not only will fewer cars on the road be better for us cyclists (and everybody else), it’ll turn all those former drivers into our allies.
It’s a silver lining I see to a really, really nasty storm cloud.
Cheers,
b&
As I said on the ride of silence group earlier, I think this is where individual
cities fail (even though they are bicycle friendly). They have a
bicycle infrastructure but no education or awareness program to go
along with it. Perhaps the “Bicycle Friendly Community” designation can be tightened up to be more strict and require more education/awareness to go along with infrastructure before a city can be designated as such.