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PrintIn My Opinion - Roads for all
TulsaPeople music columnist Andy Wheeler asks for motorists to treat cyclists with caution and care.
On May 29-31, the Tulsa Tough Ride and Race thrilled audiences with grueling bike racing through the heart of our fair city and Herculean rides around surrounding communities. There was even a townie ride for families to take part. The response from audiences, racers and riders was nothing short of ecstatic about the future for bicycles in and around Tulsa.
So that’s why the events of June 9 are so hard to fathom.
Three people were exercising on Highway 51 in Sand Springs, not only their bodies but also their right to ride on the thoroughfares of Oklahoma. They had as much right to be there as anybody else according to Oklahoma statutes.
They simply chose to ride a bicycle rather than in an automobile.
Then someone hit them with a car, killing two of them while injuring the third.
There have been allegations that alcohol or other substances may have been a contributing factor in this tragedy. Open containers of alcohol were found in the SUV.
Now we await the blood tests of the driver to determine if further criminal charges are warranted.
In the multitude of stories written on various Web sites and viewers’ comments since that event, there have been a slew of comments about the lawlessness of bicycles and that those who choose to ride a bike “have it coming.” Some who comment seem unaware of the most basic precepts of traffic law, while others have been seething in anger at bicyclists while ignoring that the only crime alleged has been that of the driver.
Lost amongst the vitriolic comments about bicycles were three victims. I chose not to include the driver as a victim as many feel that she is committed a criminal act and furious she bonded out of jail so quickly.
Christa Voss’ funeral was on June 13 in Owasso. We gathered to celebrate her life and try to make sense of the tragic end to such a promising future.
Matthew Edmond’s funeral was June 16 in Arkansas. We did the same thing there.
The survivor has been scarred physically and emotionally for the rest of his life.
We, as bicyclists, share the same roads as motorists. We share the same responsibilities as well as the same rights enjoyed by those in an automobile.
What is troubling, however, is the anger, which we deal with almost daily from some motorists. A bicyclist is defenseless, as the three victims in this instance were. Should a motorist choose to act on his or her most base and abhorrent nature, we do not know, most often, until it is too late.
We share stories about glass bottles being thrown at us, horns blared a few feet from our tire and obscenities shouted at us — all for merely riding a bicycle. There generally is no recourse as the car is traveling too fast or we are too startled to record a license plate.
It has reached such a level that some are too scared for their safety — fearful of leaving their spouse a widow or widower and children orphaned — to ride their bike on public roads.
Have we reached the point as a nation where we cannot leave our house because we fear our neighbors? Are motorists really that angry at a bicycle?
On that June Tuesday, we lost two bright young individuals whom Oklahoma could use more of, not less.
We, as cyclists, ask that every motorist please treat us as they would their neighbor, brother, sister, mother, father, daughter, son or friend. And allow us to arrive home to our families and friends, as safely as you would want for your own family and friends.
We ask that each and every motorist please exercise caution and care.
We ask to use the same roads and share the same responsibilities and rights as you do.
We ask for what the Oklahoma Legislature has written into law and the Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld:
- A bicycle is a “vehicle” useable on all roads and highways in Oklahoma except for turnpikes.
- A bicyclist is “traffic.”
- A bicyclist is granted all the rights and subject to all the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle.
These are the rules by which most of us accept to make these roads safe for all travelers.
Should you find these laws an infringement upon your rights as a driver, perhaps you should remember that driving is a privilege earned, not a birth right. The only rights we are born with are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Sadly, Matthew Edmonds and Christa Voss cannot enjoy those rights anymore. But those who knew Matt and Christa knew that every time they got on their bikes for a ride, there were few who were living fuller, enjoying their liberty more or were happier on a bike.
We will continue to ride our bikes: hopeful to return unharmed to our families and friends; mindful that we share the same roads, rights and responsibilities as motor vehicles — not subservient to; and in full desire to honor Matthew and Christa.
Because they would be out there if they could.
The Edmonds and Voss Memorial Fund has been set up at the Bank of Oklahoma. You can donate at any BOK branch or use PayPal.
Donations will help the two families to offset the costs of bills associated with this tragedy.
Editor’s note: Andy Wheeler’s column also was published as an open letter to the Tulsa World.
