Last Saturday, more than 1,000 cyclists gathered to support one another in the wake of the tragedy that occurred on Stevens Canyon Road on Sunday, March 9th, when Kristy Gough and Matt Peterson were struck and killed by a Santa Clara County sheriff. The colors worn by those riding in the mile long procession down Foothill Expressway were characteristically bright, in sharp contrast to the mood that grew ever more somber as we neared the crash site.
A fellow cyclist kindly gave me a packet of poppy seeds to sprinkle over the hillside where hundreds of flowers were lined up in a touching display of solidarity. As I stood there quietly taking in the scene, tears ran down my face. "Did you know them?" a cyclist standing nearby asked gently, noticing my tears. "No," I shook my head. "Just have a compassionate heart, huh?" he smiled. "Something like that," I murmured.
My tears were born not only from observing the intense grieving of those who have lost so much—but even more out of my intense frustration with a system that views these types of deaths as the unavoidable consequence of an efficient transportation system. I'd been fielding calls all week from reporters dealing with the tragedy from that angle, and I'd finally reached my limit. We currently live in a culture where the deaths of cyclists encourage fear of cycling, instead of encouraging us all to do something about it. For those of us that drive, it's the same nasty cycle—instead of dealing with the root problem of unsafe road conditions, we employ the band-aid of driving larger and larger vehicles to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. In the process we are putting other people more at risk and destroying our planet. We all know this... and yet we continue on this path.
This needs to change—I believe we can change it. As a society, we need to adopt a worldview where road safety is not just one goal among competing values—but is the core value. The number of people that die on our roadways in this country is equivalent to the loss of life that would result from a 747 crashing every day. As a society would we stand for that? If not, why then do we sit back and blame the victims for this systematic injustice when these deaths occur on our roadways?
I don't have all the answers, but I think it's time to start a serious dialogue. Most deaths are related to motor vehicles speeding. If I know I will receive a fine if I speed, perhaps I will choose not to. If I know I will go to jail for 20 years if I kill someone with my car, maybe I'll think twice before driving distracted. Maybe that phone call can wait until I reach my destination and I'm not in control of a potentially deadly weapon.
It was great seeing so many of you out there last Saturday. It makes my work with this wonderful organization so much more meaningful. A special thanks to Matt's and Kristy's teams for organizing such a memorable memorial ride. And a special thanks to those reporters, few and far between, that saw this for the senseless tragedy that it was—and not a reason to just convince everyone that they should be afraid to ride, to let their kids ride, and to perpetuate the crumbling of our environment, our health, and our communities.
Let's pedal on,
Corinne Winter
SVBC Executive Director
To learn more about concept of Traffic Justice please visit the Traffic Justice Initiative website.
Comments
Cycling Deaths in Cupertino Hills
Dear San Jose Mercury News Editor:
The horrific deaths of two accomplished adult cyclists on Stevens Creek Canyon Rd. by a patrolling Santa Clara County Sheriff's Deputy has sparked enormous discourse, exhortations and rhetoric among cyclists and motorists. Unfortunately, animosity has only increased between both users of our public roads.
Long before competitive cyclists Kristy Gough and Matt Peterson were hit head-on by Deputy James Council's patrol car, cyclists were well-aware of the hazards of our county roads. In fact, at age forty-seven, I consider myself lucky to be alive today. During my thirty-four year cycling career, I can attest to intentionally being run off the road innumerable times, yelled at, spat upon, dirty diapers and beer bottles thrown at me, and even a pistol put to my temple by a passing motorist who laughed outrageously when the trigger was pulled. Surprisingly, each incident happened not in Kentucky but here, on our lovely Peninsula.
During my more youthful years, I bike-camped throughout California and to the Mexican border. I also competed with Greg LeMond who, along with 10,000 others, witnessed me crashing at 50+ mph into a pedestrian who stupidly ran across the finish line of the Nevada City Cycling Classic in 1980. So, as a "more-than-an-avid" cyclist myself, I have always been extremely wary when riding: wary of narrow country roads, rented motorhomes, big rigs, road rallies and even the occassional bicycle century due to the possibility of creating ill-will between the motoring and cycling publics.
But, NEVER have I been wary of an oncoming patrol car. Actually, I'm one of those who waves and smiles at oncoming peace officers. Really.
With all this said, what happend to Kristy and Matt is tantamount to a peace officer hitting two pedestrians in a crosswalk just outside of town. I challenge what the reaction would be if two pedestrians had been fatally hit (and a third critically wounded) while legally walking in a crosswalk versus the derisive blame-game that cyclists are hearing about in this latest fatal incident in a designated bike lane.
I/we are extremely vulnerable when cycling: either we're invisible to pedestrians, ill-considered by motorists or simply a "pest" to others who believe cyclists should ride on sidewalks or not use "their roads." Our margin of error is between 12 and 48 inches. Some motorists incorrectly suggest we should even ride "facing traffic."
More than a few of my friends have had nice memorial services after being struck by motorists. One such death occurred after a motorist claimed "a honeybee flew into the truck's cab and made him veer" into my young triathlete friend Mike Bair who was helping another fix a flat tire on the road's shoulder. Another fatality was caused by a gravel truck's driver who claimed he didn't realize his rig had just run over Eric Allen, one of my nationally-ranked teammates. It killed him instantly at age 22. Other such tragedies abound in our cycling community with different names and lives destroyed as a consequence.
Simply put, there are too many avoidable fatalities to describe here yet too few to be forgotten. Thanks for covering this issue so diligently.
Sincerely,
Fritz Knochenhauer
Los Altos, CA 94024
Cyclist safety on the roadway
Beautifully written, Corinne. I'm sure this little suggestion I make will have been made a thousand times before. Might we partner with a group like the AAA to have TV commercials sprinkled throughout the day on such statistics as you quoted and the need to drive safely. Lots of people watch TV and it's one way to get to many of us who drive cars.
Mary Paquet
AAA
I think groups like AAA can play a very meaningful role in terms of reaching out to motorists. Outreach to these sorts of groups is one thing we will likely focus on in future Share the Road program activities. It is quite true that we need to reach out beyond the bicycling community to improve road conditions for everyone, including cyclists.
Corinne Winter
SVBC Exec. Director
Driving demands complete attention
When I heard the news of this most recent tragedy I was instantly back to the moment over 2 years ago when I received a call informing me that a good friend of mine was killed by a distracted driver while she was bicycling on Woodside Road.
I was again reminded of the following words from another friend, Cate Steane:
"The criminal justice system, however, serves not only to do justice in individual cases, but to deter future criminal acts by others. Americans constantly drive in a state of distraction. They operate somewhere between ignorance and denial of what a huge responsibility driving is and how it demands our complete attention. Driving is so physically effortless that it's easy to forget that what we are doing is moving multi-ton machines at high speed among countless people, animals, and objects, with minute margins of error. Every day drivers squander the split second of reaction time the can mean the difference between life and death on operating cell phones, changing the music, arguing with passengers, or dealing with fatigue."
You can also listen to Cate's perspective: http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R512050737
Our societal perspective needs to change.
Jerri-Ann Meyer
SVBC Board
Education and Awareness
The tragic death of Kristy and Matt triggers so many thoughts and emotions. I'm passionate about cycling logging thousands of miles on my bike rather than my car in the last 3 years. I've transformed my thinking, my actions and learning every day. The thoughts during the week and the memorial ride took me to different places in my mind but it I'm reminded that people don't know what they don't know.
We have the opportunity to educate and we can be aware on different levels. Raising awareness on inattentiveness is essential and it requires the choice to be present to the moment. We painfully know the possible effect of not being present. Moreover, many (most?) drivers and cyclists don't recognize what is safe for everyone in the many possible situations.
I often smile, nod, or wave to drivers (usually at stops), pedestrians and cyclists. Encourage learning, share your knowledge, practice safety skills, and keep the peace.
Sue Young
SVBC Board Member
Vote for the pro-cyclist candidate for judge!
I'm still in shock from this tragedy. I've been looking for something, anything, I can do that might help bring about some of the changes Corinne suggests.
So as a lifetime SVBC member, I'm writing today to ask that we officially endorse and support Jay Boyarsky, candidate for judge.
http://www.boyarskyforjudge.com/Welcome.html
I met Jay when he prosecuted the case involving my friend John Peckham (http://www.altovelo.org/), the cyclist killed in September '06 by a driver on meth. Thanks to Jay's efforts, that driver was sentenced to 19 years.
http://www.boyarskyforjudge.com/Case_1.html
In a similar case that December, cyclist Mary Ann Levenson was hit by a driver under the influence and nearly killed. (The driver tried to leave the scene, dragging her under his vehicle, and only stopped when another driver pulled across his path.)
Jay was not the prosecutor on this case. That driver has just been sentenced to 8 months.
We need judges who really understand and are sensitive to our concerns as cyclists. Jay would be one.
So I respectfully ask that as an organization, we endorse Jay officially, and that as individual cyclists, we each support his campaign by:
- spreading the word among the cycling community
- if at all possible, making a secure online donation at:
http://www.boyarskyforjudge.com/Support.html
to help get Jay's message out by mail.
Thank you very much for reading this.
Sincerely,
Karin Jeffery
Endurance cycling coach
Competitive cyclist, Velo Bella-Kona
Lifetime member, SVBC
Lifetime member, League of American Bicyclists