“We all have a right to safe mobility, and we can prevent these tragic crashes. We know that the vast majority of crashes are related to factors that we can influence,” said Jacob VanSickle, executive director of Bike Cleveland. “We can design roads that discourage dangerous speeds, we can lower speeds by adding traffic calming. We can ensure vehicles are built for the safety of everyone including those outside of cars. These are policy and design choices that we can all demand.”
Last year, Ohio saw 1,149 crashes between bicycles and cars, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety. In those crashes, 155 people were seriously injured and eight were killed.
In Cuyahoga County, 15 people suffered serious injuries in bicycle and car crashes and one child, 3-year-old Izzy Hudspath, was fatally struck in a hit-and-run while on a family bike ride.
“They’re not just statistics, they’re real-live human beings,” said Patty Knilans, whose husband Randy Knilans was killed by a drunk and speeding driver while riding a bike in 2019. “They’re you, your neighbors, your friends, they’re people that committed themselves to their family, to their community.”
Groups met Downtown and in University Heights for the Ride of Silence, before riding to join together at University Hospital.
Going into the summer, organizers encourage motorists to be more aware of cyclists, but also call on the city to take action to protect cyclists by creating safe places to bicycle and calming and slowing traffic.
“[Randy Knilans] did everything that all of you do,” said Patty Knilans to the participating cyclists outside University Hospital. “Helmet, bright colors, lights on his bike, only rode in daylight, rode in the bike lane but that, alas was not enough to save him.”
Vision Zero is an initiative to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries on city roads. Since introducing Vision Zero, Cleveland has had success with traffic calming through radar speed feedback signs and a pilot program using speed tables to slow traffic on residential streets, which slowed car speeds by almost eight miles per hour.
“Please use your voice to speak for the eight that were lost last year in Ohio, to demand better roadway separations for cyclists, to follow through on Vision Zero actions, to support Bike Cleveland, who advocate so strongly for the biking community and to end the need to erect ghost bikes in our communities,” Knilans said.
Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
This article appears in May 17-30, 2023.