The Ride of Silence, held Wednesday, May 21 at the State Capitol, Charleston. It honors the memory of bicyclists around the country who have been killed while riding their bikes. In the past several years, West Virginia lost a college student to a drunk driver, a cyclist was killed when harassed by kids and a triathlete was killed by a distracted motorist using a cell phone. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, Analysis of Fatal Crash Data (2011 most recently available) show seven deaths in West Virginia the past six years, compared to 4,114 nationally.
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
WV 1 1 2 0 3 0
U.S. 772 701 718 628 618 677
The cyclists rode slowly down Kanawha Boulevard in a double column, turned at the parking lot just before Patrick Street and returned to the Capital via the Boulevard. Communication was by hand signals only. Traffic control was provided by the Charleston Police Bicycle Patrol.
The event was sponsored by the Mountain State Wheelers Bicycle Club. For more information visit: www.RideOfSilence.org/main.php or www.MountainStateWheelers.org.