2016 was a record turn-out for Des Moines. We doubled the length of the route and gained maximum exposure. It is estimated that 350-450 attended the event.
The event had an extra-special meaning this year as the trial was held for the killer of Wade Franck the week before the ride. Wade was the Sales Manager at Kyle's Bikes and was killed by a Drunk driver on a Sunday morning in August 2015 while participating in the Urban Assault Ride.
Check out the powerful photos taken by Steve Fuller at the end of this Feature.
Facebook photo album
The Ride of Silence exists to - To HONOR and pay respect to those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways.
- To RAISE AWARENESS to motorists, elected officials, and the police force that Cyclists have every legal right to ride on the roadways
- This ride Signifies the importance to staying safe and let others know that CYCLISTS ARE NOT DISPOSABLE!
Cyclists have every legal right to ride on the roadways and this ride signifies the importance to staying safe and increasing awareness.
As we have proven over the last 12 years, The RIDE OF SILENCE is NOT SILENT AT ALL. It is a VERY POWERFUL and EMOTIONAL EVENT
Tonight there are 439 ROS world wide
50 U.S. states
48 Countries
7 continents
0 words spoken
A million powerful memories
Let the silence roar....
TONIGHT - 6 of the locations are in Iowa
Cedar Falls | Cedar Rapids/Marion | Des Moines | Mason City | Sioux City, Sergeant Bluff - Also one in nearby Bellevue NE
ROS HISTORY
This is the 13thyear for ROS. The original ROS was started in White Rock Lake in Dallas TX,by
Chris Phelan in 2003 as his friend Larry Schwartz was killed when he
was struck by the mirror of a passing school bus . On May 4th2003 Larry was killed. May 8 was his funeral where several cyclists came up with the concept of a ride. May 11themails were sent out and May 21stwas the 1stROS with 1000 in attendance.
Des Moines HISTORY
2016 marks the 12th year that we have been hosting a Ride of Silence in Des Moines.
Our 1stone being in 2005.That was the times when Daniel
Wisnousky, Brian Shaver and Br. Bob Breedlove were killed and I had a
connection with all 3 them and heard about ROS, and put it on the
calendar.
In 2005 we had 100 cyclists show for the 1st one and 160 in 2006. Since then we've had between 100 and 250 each year. I feel we have made an impact.
SHOW OF HANDS-
I asked - How many have been injured by a motorist while riding a bicycle?
-
I asked - How many have had a family member injured or killed while riding a bicycle?
-
I asked - How many know someone who has been injured or killed while riding a bicycle?
LOTS of hands rose in response of each of these questions
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Since the last ROS in May, 26 cyclists have been added to the list. (23 in 2015)
4 cyclists were killed and 22 injured while riding their bicycle.
245 cyclists are now on our list stemming back to 1989. We know there are many more - at least 10-fold...
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We had a “Visual Representation” for the cyclists we are riding in honor of.
Each name of the person, their age, the location of their crash and a brief description was read off as a "shout-out"
As the names wer read off, for each person who was injured, a person sat down. For a cyclist who was killed, the volunteer laid down.
See below for the list of cyclists we rode for.
| Status |
Crash Date |
Name |
Age |
Resident City |
Incident City |
| Injured |
5/21/2015 |
Kevin Sandbulte |
58 |
Rochester IA |
Hospers IA |
| Injured |
5/24/2015 |
Unidentified Male |
n/a |
Sioux City IA |
Sioux City IA |
| Injured |
5/27/2015 |
Steven Michael Simon |
60 |
Rochester IA |
Tipton IA |
| Killed |
6/23/2015 |
Iryna Shevchuk |
20 |
Arnolds Park IA |
Spirit Lake IA |
| Injured |
7/5/2015 |
Robert Goldhorn |
|
Ankeny IA |
Ankeny IA |
| Injured |
7/29/2015 |
Anna Murnigkeit |
83 |
Mason City IA |
Mason City IA |
| Killed |
7/29/2015 |
Grace Harken |
20 |
Riceville IA |
Osage IA |
| Injured |
8/1/2015 |
Male Child |
n/a |
Cedar Falls IA |
Cedar Falls IA |
| Injured |
8/6/2015 |
Unidentified Child |
n/a |
Des Moines IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Killed |
8/16/2015 |
Wade Franck |
41 |
Des Moines IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
8/16/2015 |
Josh Jones |
36 |
Waukee IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
8/16/2015 |
Gregory Strub |
41 |
Ankeny IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
8/16/2015 |
Julee Peterson |
40 |
Ankeny IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
8/18/2015 |
Unidentified Male |
n/a |
Des Moines IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
8/20/2015 |
Unidentified Female |
n/a |
Waukee IA |
Waukee IA |
| Injured |
9/4/2015 |
Unidentified Male |
n/a |
Mason City IA |
Mason City IA |
| Injured |
9/4/2015 |
Unidentified Child |
n/a |
Mason City IA |
Mason City IA |
| Injured |
9/9/2015 |
David Ryder |
54 |
Council Bluffs IA |
Council Bluffs IA |
| Injured |
9/15/2015 |
Unidentified Women |
52 |
Cedar Falls IA |
Cedar Falls IA |
| Injured |
9/29/2015 |
Male Child |
12 |
Urbandale IA |
Urbandale IA |
| Injured |
10/15/2015 |
Christine Peters |
61 |
Cedar Falls IA |
Cedar Falls IA |
| Injured |
10/29/2015 |
Steve Fuller |
46 |
Johnston IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
11/19/2015 |
Unidentified Female |
n/a |
Waterloo IA |
Waterloo IA |
| Injured |
3/6/2016 |
Jason Nolasco |
6 |
Fort Dodge IA |
Fort Dodge IA |
| Killed |
4/22/2016 |
Joleen Marie Stork |
60 |
Glidden IA |
Glidden IA |
| Killed |
5/1/2016 |
Charles Brown |
65 |
Des Moines IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
5/8/2016 |
Unknown Female |
n/a |
Des Moines IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
5/10/2016 |
Kathy Murphy |
n/a |
Cedar Rapids IA |
Hiawatha IA |
| Injured |
5/15/2016 |
Tim Braden |
n/a |
Des Moines IA |
Des Moines IA |
| Injured |
5/17/2016 |
Tom Daniels |
44 |
Ames IA |
Ames IA |
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EVERYONE SET DOWN...
Ready for this ????
Obviously not ever crash makes the news and names of the victims are not provided for privacy purposes.
We obtained reports from the IDOT Traffic and Safety Office
There are 41 bicyclist-involved crashes so far in 2016
(1 fatality, 2 major, 22 minor, 14 possible, 2 unknown)
KICKER !!! That makes an additional 335 bicycle related crashes since last May!!! We only have data on 26 !! so 335 more folks should be setting down!
Previous year comparisons:
408 total crashes in 2015 (5 fatality, 29 major, 217 minor, 141 possible, 16 unknown)
319 total crashes in 2014
Towns with most Bike/Auto crashes in 2015
Des Moines 52
Iowa City 43
Sioux City 26
Council Bluffs 22
Ames 21
Davenport 20
Cedar Rapids 17
Waterloo 11
Clinton 11
Cedar Falls 9
Dubuque 8
Lighting stats in 2015
Dark - roadway lighted 47
Dark - roadway not lighted 7
Dawn 5
Daylight 315
Dusk 14
Not Reported 1
Unknown 2
So we rode for thousands of Iowans this evening.
***
The IDOT only records the crashes with motor vehicles. Bicycle/Bicycle,
Bicycle/Pedestrian, Bicycle/with other are not part of this data
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