Memorial Walks & Bike Rides

Honor the victims. Mobilize for Safer Streets.

Educate Community on Traffic Safety.

www.SeattleGreenways.org Merlin Rainwater, Central Greenways

Cathy Tuttle, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways

Traffic Violence

• A public health disaster

• Trivialization of traffic death and injuries

The “Classic” Memorial Walk

• Incident

• Contributing factors

• Memorial Event

• Community response

• Government response

• Ongoing needs

• Universal lessons

The Memorial checklist

1. Confirm incident

2. Initiate community outreach

3. Local government outreach

4. Engage family

5. Discuss logistics/inform media

6. Dialog w family, government, community

7. Do the Memorial event

8. Solutions Meetings

9. Follow up reviews and thanks

• Try to complete checklist between one and two weeks

Madison Park Walk-bike collision

Lance David Truck driver-bicyclist

James St. Claire Walker-car driver

Seattle Memorial Events 2013-14

• Wedgwood. Schulte family walking 4/1/13

• East Marginal Way. Lance David bicycle 5/7/13

• Georgetown. Surinderpaul Basra walking 5/21/13

• Rainier Valley. Trevon Holden walking 8/5/13

• Madison Park. Anon walking (hit by bicyclist) 8/31/13

• High Point. James St. Clair walking 12/31/13

• Wedgwood. Schulte Family 1 year anniversary 3/24/14

• Pinehurst. Sandhya Khadka walking 4/17/14

• First Hill. Rebecca Scollard walking 7/31/14

• Downtown. Sher Kung bicycle 9/5/14

Crosswalk Action Rainier Valley Greenways

Changing the conversation

in Seattle

Challenges in Planning Memorials

• Staying sensitive to the death

• Getting accurate, timely information

• Which deaths should be memorialized?

Rebecca Scollard

Walking-Truck driver hit & run

Be sensitive

• Participation of advocacy groups

• Victim blaming

• Looking for clear answers

• Disproportionate impact on poor / people of color

• Asking for cultural change

• Language of traffic violence

How children

lost the right to

roam in four

generations.

U.K. Daily Mail 6/15/07.

David Derbyshire

Traffic is a Public Health Menace. Cyclist and pedestrian fatality rates

and nonfatal injury rates in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, the United

Kingdom, and the United States, 2004–2009. John Pucher slide.

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways www.SeattleGreenways.org

Merlin Rainwater, Cathy Tuttle, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways