“If We, as Human Beings, Don’t Care About Other People’s Lives..” – Mother’s Appeal for Road Safety at Memorial of Fallen 16-Year-Old Cyclist

Cyclists on the road have voiced their concerns over the below-par safety measures deployed on the streets and the lack of infrastructure. The road has seen a stark rise in the number of cyclists on the roads in the past few years, especially after the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a great shift in the public mindset and attitude toward health, well-being, and sustainability.

Locked up in their homes, it gifted people with the opportunity to sit back and think about right and wrong, and the necessary changes. A large section of the American population resorted to cycling as a means of transport and also encouraged people from all age groups to take it up. But, the current conditions of the roads and their structure leave a lot to be desired, and that has resulted in fatal accidents and deaths of many in the last three years.

Residents gather to pay their homage to 16-year-old

While the normal populace adopted the idea with less to no resistance, the local and municipal officials were late to the fore. Numerous cyclists and cycling organizations over the past few years have raised concerns over the increasing number of accidents and cyclists’ deaths in the country. On Saturday, almost a 100 people gathered to attend the ghost bike ceremony of Joshua Anleu, a 16-year-old cyclist enthusiast who lost his life last month.

Joshua was cycling a few blocks away from his house and met with an accident at the intersection between North Long Avenue and West Waveland Avenue in the Portage Park neighborhood. Post-mortem reports of the accident revealed that the driver of the car that crashed into him could not exercise due care while driving.

Family, friends, and members of the community gathered at the same intersection to pay tributes to the fallen 16-year-old. There was a ‘ghost bike memorial’ installed at the spot of the accident that served as a reminder of the dangers and consequences of rash driving.

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Is a cyclist ever going to feel safe on the streets?

The streets of Chicago have not been safe for cyclists at all. In 2023, the city has already witnessed 5 cyclists deaths and 25 pedestrian deaths until now. In the same week when Joshua met with the fatal accident, two other residents from Chicago, Donald Heggemann, 59, and James Bowman, 52, were killed while cycling.

Local state senator Natalie Toro also attended the ceremony and spoke at length about the need to address the shortcomings and make the roads safer for cycling enthusiasts. She promised to team up with cycling advocates and organizations to chalk up plans and ideas to make the streets a safe haven for everyone on it.

Joshua’s mother thanked every person that attended the ceremony and had a heartfelt plea and message to everyone citizen in attendance.

“I will say thank you to everyone,” Karen said tearfully. “To be here is to take your time, because the only thing we have in life is time. We need to share, we need to love each other. We need to have more respect. Love, morals, we need to start caring about each other. Because this is not enough. It doesn’t matter how many rules or how many bike lanes they will do. If we, as human beings, don’t care about other people’s lives, we’re going to keep killing each other.”

Cyclists in the United States of America are certainly not safe on the roads, and the numbers, too, paint a worrisome picture. Authorities need to wake up to the noise, or else fatalities will only increase.

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