Date:
Location:
Information from the M.S. Fits Cycling Team website
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
What: A 5-mile loop, in silence, no faster than 12 MPH in honor of cyclists and others killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. The ride, which is being 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.
Where: Triangle Life Science Center Parking Lot (on Hwy. 54 just west of T.W. Alexander Dr. - former USEPA building), Research Triangle Park, NC...
When: We will leave promptly at 7:00 p.m.. Please arrive early enough to air up tires and participate in a moment of silence before the ride.
Registration: No registration, no fee, spread the word!
Helmets are required and lights highly advised.
Host: Team MSFits — Blanche & Larry Dean
More info:National Ride of Silence Website - On Wednesday, May 21st, the Ride of Silence will roll across the country, starting at 7:00 PM. In more than 50 cities in the U.S. and Canada, cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways.
Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn't aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves.
Chris Phelan organized the first Ride Of Silence in Dallas (May 2004) after endurance cyclist Larry Schwartz was hit by the mirror of a passing bus and was killed.
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 being 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.
Comments
I think we're taking the
I think we're taking the wrong tack to this. When there is a bad law we shouldn't say "Make everyone follow the law" but rather "Change the law." To quote a letter to the editor from Sundays News and Observer (http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/letters/story/1076751.html it starts at the bottom and you have to click Next Page to see the finsih) from a Mr. Rod Phillips in Raleigh:
"Had bicycles been invented yesterday rather than 100 years or so before the automobile, there would be no serious thought of allowing them on our public roads."
If anyone deines that then they are either dishonest or delusional.
If you want to encourage bicycling then make it safe. The current status of bikers isn't perceived as safe, especially by drivers, who are the ones that could potentially be converted to becoming bikers. And as long as drivers and bikers are on the same pavement and passing each other just a few feet apart with no barrier in between, it will never be perceived as safe.
It is simply crazy to have vehicles weighing tons travelling 30-50 MPH a few feet away, with no barrier, from a human being on a bicycle going 5-15 MPH. The emporer is wearing no clothes and somebody has to say it.