WICHITA, Kansas – Wednesday night Wichita will join cities across other cities across the nation in a ceremony to remember bicyclists who’ve been injured or killed while in traffic. The so-called “Ride of Silence” encourages drivers to watch out for cyclists. It comes at the same time the city is trying to make its streets more bike friendly.
Delores Craig rides her bike year-round, commuting to work at WSU. But as safety conscious as she is, other vehicles have hit her three times.
"Cars come by and decide to make a right turn,” she said. “They slow down; I catch up with them; that's how I got hit. I was very, very, very lucky.”
Keith Snyder was knocked unconscious when his bike was clipped by a semi.
"The fiberglass fender of the front of a truck caught me right across here,” said Keith Snyder, who’s been cycling sine 1982. “That threw me 35 feet into the ditch. It put my bike 70 feet down the road.”
Both cyclists will be remembered at the Ride of Silence where the names of 20 injured riders and 20 killed will be read aloud, including Bob Frederick, the KU athletics director who died last year.
Organizers hope the event will make drivers aware.
"That the bicyclist has a right to be on the road, it's the law,” said Kramer.
And for anyone who thinks bikes should ride on the sidewalk, Don Kramer, with the Oz Bicycle Club and organizer of the Ride of Silence, learned the danger of that years ago.
"A lady pulled out of a car park and didn't see me, hit the rear wheel of my bike, and I went down,” he said.
That’s why Wichita is now planning to add more bike lanes starting with 1st and 2nd streets east of the canal route. The city also wants to relax the bike ordinance from requiring cyclists to ride within five feet of the curb to whatever is practicable to their lane. They are small changes aimed to ensure room on the road to be fun and safe.
"It's my health,” Craig said. “I stay pretty healthy and it's because I ride 6,000 to 7,000 miles a year.”
The Ride of Silence begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Wichita Clinic on W. 21st St. A four-mile bike ride will follow the ceremony.
