Bike riders ask for prayers and laws to make streets safer

At Pine Grove United Methodist final week on fast paced Central Avenue (an in particular nerve-racking street for cyclists with its multiple lanes of zooming cars), the coalition go through the names of dozens of bicyclists and pedestrians killed.

Coalition President Ed Brennan thinks most automobile-bike collisions could manifest owing variables like distracted motorists—or cyclists–or rushing and intersection blind places. But many others die in what he calls “road violence.” He sees reflections of our era’s enraged conflict over values reflected on the street. And a hefty car can renovate some men and women who are possessing a rough day into bullies or “monsters,” he noted.

“Some drivers see bicyclists as thieves, a person making an attempt to frustrate or group motorists on a highway meant for vehicles,” Brennan sighed. “I’ve had drivers throw bottles or garbage at me, blow diesel smoke in my face.”

But as Brennan notes, streets are “supposed to be meant for anyone, cyclists and pedestrians, even if streets aren’t always developed that way.”

The Rev. Al Johnson’s church hosted the Central Avenue vigil and he wonders if indignant motorists would tranquil down if they comprehended that some people are on bikes due to the fact which is the only transportation they can afford to get to do the job, worship products and services or a doctor’s appointment. 

“Not every person can pay for car or truck repairs or today’s fuel prices,” Johnson explained. “We have a staffer who does upkeep do the job on the church. He was homeless and is effective challenging, rides a bicycle almost everywhere … the bus isn’t the fastest way to get to different careers.”

Previous tumble, a Colonie Wendy’s rapid food items worker concluded her night time shift and was biking home in the rain when a driver struck and left her lying in the street in a coma. She could not afford a motor vehicle. No buses run at 3 a.m. close to her place of work.

“This is my community, exactly where I stay and do the job,” Johnson explained. “I nevertheless really feel like crossing Central is frightening.”

The bicycle coalition supports the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act as a way to make roadways safer for everybody. It enhances driver training and outlines legal rights to victims of site visitors violence. And proposed laws would make it possible for New York towns and cities to minimize velocity limits for selected streets.

 Dangerous by Structure, a 2021 report researched by the Centers for Disease Handle and nonprofit, nonpartisan Sensible Expansion America, uncovered only 5 percent of cyclists are killed if a car or truck is driving 20 mph, whilst 45 percent of human beings hit by cars and trucks driving 30 mph die.
Longtime coalition member Lorenz Worden counts 13 fatalities and two critical accidents in our place about the earlier ten years primarily based on their review of regional news and police experiences. 
 
“Of 13 deaths, 5 were plainly motor-motor vehicle-driver mistake,” Worden explained. “The other eight are undetermined, fuzzy in some circumstances. Our evaluation is that police stories and article content based mostly on them – particularly in situations of no witnesses other than the motor auto driver – leave room for several inquiries.”

Coalition associates fret that police may possibly much too normally apparent the driver of blame when the bicycle owner or pedestrian is dead—especially if the nondriver is the only other witness.

Troy Bicycle Fest will be outdoors with at Oakwood Group Heart, 313 10th St, Troy from 3 to 7 p.m. There will burritos, beer, a cake auction, fashion display, door prizes, and a wheelie contest with awesome feats of skill. Donations for the occasion are welcome at   https://www.gofundme.com/f/tbr-is-21-yr-aged-lets-celebrate-sustain

Albany Bike Rescue at the Genuine Pounds Meals Co-op will be held that Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Small bicycle repairs, bicycle maintenance assistance, and a opportunity to market refurbished bicycles. Deliver your bicycle and master a lot more about Albany Bike Rescue. [email protected] 

See MoreCollapse

The bicycle group hopes the vigil will provide as outreach to the faith-centered group with whom it shares lots of leads to and values. 
They do far more than advocate for bicycle trails and street safety. Customers raise funds for a host of local community services groups, which includes Black Lives Make any difference. They rode to Allison Joseph’s launch of Black Ladies Do Bike to exhibit assistance.

When a very little boy was killed crossing a road close to Ezra Prentice very low-earnings housing several years ago, coalition riders joined residents protesting diesel vehicles they explained usually drove as well rapid by way of residential streets in the vicinity of the rail garden.

Brennan elevated resources a short while ago for Living Methods, a regional nonprofit that serves the disabled, riding his bike from Williamsburg, Va., to Miami.

ABC in some cases mourns the dead by caring for their ghost bikes, a around the world phenomenon.

8 ghost bikes haunt Cash Area destinations where cyclists were being killed. Bicycle frames (stripped of gears and chains) and tires are painted the palest ivory white, then chained to a nearby fence or pole. They are cyclists’ variation of avenue altars. 

After the vigil, cyclists compensated their respects to Jeremy Williams by using to the place he was killed on Central Avenue, then to a Colonie corner wherever Roger Sawyer died and eventually to the Fuller Street web site of Nicholas Richichi’s death. Ghost bikes weren’t required to honor the dead simply because the cyclists realized the locations by coronary heart.