CW: discussion of road traffic deaths, focusing on cyclists, walkers, runners.
Today is the 32nd year of communities gathering to remember their friends, family members and neighbors who died on roads and streets. Starting in 2005, the United Nations officially adopted the third Sunday in November as World Remembrance Day, as “the appropriate acknowledgement for victims of road traffic crashes and their families”.
I was reminded of this day by Mass Bike, an organization that offers bike education and advocates for safer streets and roads for cyclists of all ages and types. Today they are sponsoring a Ride for Your Life and rally at the State House in Boston. There they will remember the fifty pedestrians and eight cyclists who have been killed in road violence so far this year. And, they will advocate for legislation to make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Which leads me to this: until recently, discussions around bike safety have often centered around what individuals on bikes do: are they wearing helmets? Are they using lights? Are they obeying traffic laws? Why were they riding in this place very late at night or early in the morning?
Questions like these implicitly place the responsibility for bike safety on the cyclists themselves. But this is the wrong focus. Research suggests that the type of road infrastructure that creates both awareness of shared space and provides physical barriers between cyclists and drivers has significant effects on road violence. In Boston, where I live, there are a number of ways roads have been refashioned to increase awareness, visibility and safety. You can look here for more info, and some illustrations are below.
Cities in places like the Netherlands and Denmark have very advanced road infrastructures for cyclists and pedestrians, but here in North America, we lag far behind. Maybe today is a good day for you to take a walk or a ride, write your local politicians, or talk to your friends and neighbors about bike and pedestrian safety. Of course, any day is a good day for education and advocacy. But there’s no time like the present, and you’ll be in good company with others all around the world.