18th Annual Philadelphia Ride of Silence was on May 18th, 2022 and ended with the ceremonial bike lift in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
(PHILADELPHIA) – Close to two hundred people showed up to honor the 12 cyclists killed in the Delaware Valley last year. The ride itself traveled through Center City, West Philadelphia and ended in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art with the ceremonial bike lift.
Each year the Ride of Silence takes place in over 400 locations worldwide to commemorate the people who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. This is the 18th year in a row that Philadelphia has participated in this event. This event continues each year due to the number of bicyclists killed due to in part the lack of enough investments in safe road infrastructure, and people come together to ask for greater investments to ensure the safety of all cyclists across the nation.
On Sunday, June 21, Samuel Ozer died of his injuries when the bike he was riding on Henry Avenue near Barnes Street in Roxborough was struck by a vehicle. “Sam had become strong, balanced, and an excellent team player, undaunted by challenges and noted for his grit,” said his mother, Mindy Maslin.
“The high number of bicyclists dying in Greater Philadelphia is unacceptable,” said Sarah Clark Stuart, the Executive Director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia (BCGP). “ We need our elected officials to enact laws and policies that make roads safe, set safe speed limits and mandate safe vehicle technologies.”
“It is so important to honor those we lost and put a name and a face to the statistics”, said Christopher Puchalsky, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives at Philadelphia’s office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability. “We’ve done a lot of work over the last year to make our streets safer, but events like the Ride of Silence help remind us engineers and policy makers of why we need to keep pushing forward.”
Also in attendance was Stuart Leon Bicycle Crash Law, which offers legal support, specifically, for cyclists who have been injured while riding their bikes; and Families for Safe Streets of Greater Philadelphia (FSSGP), a collective of families who have lost loved ones to traffic violence.
“12 Cyclist Deaths by drivers of motor vehicles in our region in one year is outrageous and unacceptable,” said Ray Scheinfeld, Ride of Silence Philadelphia leader. “We need to fully support the implementation of Vision Zero. Only then will we be able to ride safely every day.”
Next year will be the 21st anniversary of the National Ride of Silence further reminding us that our streets remain unsafe to cyclists and they will stay that way until our cities and states invest more in traffic calming and road infrastructure.
The Bicycle Coalition would like to thank the following for helping with the ride:
- Ride of Silence Philadelphia Chapter
- Bicycle Coalition Staff Volunteers
- Cyclists whole helped close streets
- Families For Safe Streets of Greater Philadelphia
- Stuart Leon Bicycle Crash Law
- City of Philadelphia: The Office of Information and Technology
Picture taken by Jake Thompson