MIAMI – May perhaps is Nationwide Bicycle Month– a time to promote safety for cyclists.
The Rickenbacker Causeway is a favourite place for cyclists to journey in South Florida, but it can also be perilous.
And Wednesday, riders took to the streets there from Crandon Park to elevate consciousness for the yearly Ride of Silence.
“On this incredibly day all around the world individuals are riding their bikes to commemorate cyclists who have been killed in crashes on general public roadways,” said Sue Kawalerski with Bicycle305.
Jeishy Zerpa was there in memory of her husband Juan Carlos Martinez
“I’m glad that we are nonetheless honoring him and speaking about him, but I’m unfortunate that I’m in this article without having him,” she claimed.
Martinez was killed in a head-on crash with a law enforcement car or truck in 2021.
Now his spouse is dedicated to the mission of earning streets safer for cyclist.
“(We have to have) awareness and accountability for persons to be far more accountable when they are driving and coming across cyclists on the street,” Zerpa mentioned.
Jeanette Haivyl Lopez also appreciates the suffering of getting rid of a beloved a single on the street.
Her ex-husband Yaudy Vera was killed very last calendar year although using his bicycle together the Rickenbacker Causeway.
“Two lives have been lost,” Haivyl Lopez mentioned. “Several households were being ruined and damage. Not only mine, but hers and a lot of other individuals. And we want to make confident that this isn’t going to transpire once more.”
She’s delighted with the advancements made so considerably to make it less complicated and safer for autos and bikes to share the road, but states extra operate requirements to be performed to be certain her family’s loss, and the decline of so many many others, won’t be in vain.
“As I claimed to my boys, he’s below with us in a distinct way. And he will generally be defending us,” she explained.
Haivyl Lopez suggests she also would like to see far more penalties for motorists involved and at-fault in these crashes.
She suggests she feels as while her loved ones has not gotten justice.
