This morning in the University District.
  • E.S.
  • This morning in the University District.
This morning in the University District, the Cascade Bicycle Club held a press conference to give its take on the recent cyclist deaths, a rise in anti-cyclist rhetoric, and where to go from here.

More on what was said later, but for now it's worth reading what M.J. Kelly, spokesperson for the Cascade Bicycle Club, told the crowd:

I work for the Cascade Bicycle Club, but today I’m before you as a concerned parent. I’m the mother to two little boys. I often drive to their schools, right here in the University District, and we also frequently bike together, all three of us, on one big family bike. This intersection is on our commute.

My boys love bikes.

I walk, drive and bike with the two most precious people in my life. These joyful, smiling boys and I need to get where we’re going, safely. We just want to get to school, then to work and back home again. Imagine, for a minute, the horrifying call my husband would receive if we didn’t make it.

Well, I’ve gotten that call. Seven years ago, I lost a family member to a preventable traffic fatality. My grandmother did not attend my wedding and she never met her only great-grandchildren because she was hit by a car and killed, while crossing the street in a crosswalk.

Over this summer, several families have gotten this call. And over the weekend, yet another family got the call. Another family is burying its child.

It breaks my heart that these phone calls continue, and it’s got to stop. I don’t want another family to bury a son, a father or a grandmother because of a traffic death.

We can do better.

No more traffic fatalities.

Changes to Seattle’s streets have gotten more people to bike and walk, but more must be done to make it safer to use them. Throughout the public right of way, we need a truly safe, continuous network that incorporates low-traffic Neighborhood Greenways, traffic signals that help people get across busy roads without fear, cycletracks and buffered bike lanes to give more space between cars and bikes.

But it’s not just about the infrastructure.

Together, we also must take shared responsibility for making our streets safer, and that comes down to our conduct.

Look around, and you’ll see people. Whether we’re in a car, walking, biking or taking the bus, we are all people, trying to get from point A to point B, just like my grandmother was. Just like John Przychodzen, Michael Wang, Marian Byse, Brian Fairbrother, and Robert Townsend were. All of us need to slow down and look out for each other.

Like the man who wrote to me yesterday saying: "I am a hugely cautious commuter [using] the Trail whenever possible , otherwise riding only on [bike routes], [I ride] adorned with Christmas tree lights, mirror, bell. I use hand signals. I do not race cars, run red lights etc etc...and still, I have regular, near misses. Please help."

We’re looking at you, City Council members, the Mayor’s office, Seattle Police Department, Seattle Department of Transportation and our Washington State Department of Transportation.

We can do better.

Look around you Seattle. This is your community, filled with your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, your children, and—yes—your grandmothers.

This is the Emerald City, where our streets should be green, not mean. This is our community. These are our streets to share. Put people first. Do your part to make that the last ghost bike we ever see.

We can do better.