Days of rain and cloud cover cast a gloominess over Durham throughout the week. But as dozens of cyclists gathered at CCB Plaza on Wednesday for the annual Ride of Silence, the sun pierced through the clearing sky just in time to offer a ray of hopefulness to an otherwise somber event.
The Ride of Silence is a national event held each year to memorialize people who were killed or seriously injured while biking. Communities across the country host memorial rides to bring awareness to the issue of traffic violence. Local transportation nonprofit Bike Durham hosted this year’s 4.3-mile ride that wound through the greater downtown Durham area, evading construction sites and traveling on neighborhood back streets to avoid busy intersections. The distance represents the 43 individuals killed while biking in North Carolina last year.
Shaun King, board chair at Bike Durham, says the event has become a place for folks like Allison Simpson, whose husband Matt was killed while biking with his family in 2022, to heal and find community.
“It’s a privilege to be a part of the Ride of Silence year over year,” King says. “Each year, members of the ride who previously experienced trauma now use the ride to express themselves and participate in different ways. It is therapeutic and important that we commit ourselves to being persistent partners in events like these.”
Cyclists are encouraged to be silent for the duration of the ride. Participants gave onlookers small handouts with the route and locations where traffic violence has occurred. Simone Hamlett, an avid cyclist and local leader of the Black Girls Do Bike chapter of the Triangle, says she uses the quiet time to reflect on the lives lost.
“I want to remember those who have been injured or have lost their lives while riding their bikes or walking due to vehicular crime,” Hamlett says.
The City of Durham has invested millions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades in recent years to improve transportation access for folks who take the bus, ride their bike, or walk to get to their destination. But advocates like Hamlett continue to push for a more complete network of mobility options.
“The city of Durham is making progress but there are still some roads that do not have the infrastructure that I feel we could have,” Hamlett says. “I just want a fully bikeable city.”
Bike Durham has led efforts to advance the bike and pedestrian community’s requests. During last year’s budget cycle, advocates rallied to bring a Vision Zero coordinator to the city’s transportation staff. That position was filled in December. Now, new challenges, including pushing the state transportation department to convert one-way streets back to two-way, and getting the city to repair and expand Durham’s system of sidewalks, are just some of the line items that advocates hope to get in the budget for next year.
“For Bike Durham, we’re trying to really go from vision to change,” King says. “Now, we really need to see changes happen and dollars get spent in ways that we can observe, monitor and challenge when they’re not spent for sustainable and equitable purposes.”
On Monday, city manager Wanda Page will present her staff’s recommendations for the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget. The city council will host its second public hearing on June 3 before taking a final vote on the budget on June 17.
Correction: City council members will take an official vote on the budget on Monday, June 17, not June 30 as originally stated.
Disclosure: Justin Laidlaw was formerly a member of the board of directors for the nonprofit Bike Durham.
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