What we know:
PHILADELPHIA – Philly Bike Action organized a Safe Streets Ride to demand better protective bike lanes and to honor people killed while biking.
What they’re saying:
“I really don’t know what this has done to our family. It has ripped us apart,” said Ruth Ann Fenton as her family held pictures of her husband Harry. Police say a driver in a car hit Harry while he was riding his bike on Belmont Avenue in Fairmount Park last Tuesday.
“We used to come on a tandem and he would pull me around the city,” she said. This evening, the Fentons joined other bikers for a rally to demand better protective bike lanes.
They were already registered to participate in it before Harry was killed.
“He was a very serious bike rider and bike safety was so important to him because he loved it so much,” said his wife.
The non-profit Philly Bike Action organized the protest that started at the Art Museum.
They want concrete protection specifically on Spruce and Pine streets near Rittenhouse in Center City.
Spruce Street is also where Barbara Friedes, who was a doctor at CHOP, was killed last year while riding her bike in a marked bike lane.
“Having concrete barriers to protect riders from drivers, because right now when you’re riding through those bike lanes, cars are always swerving in and out, cars are parked there,” said Gaurav Shetty with Philly Bike Action.
Some families brought along their children who also bike ride around the city.
“Philly Bike Action wants to see broad, systemic change in the city to make sure everybody is safe, whether biking in Fairmount, biking in Rittenhouse or driving down Broad Street,” said Jacob Russell with Philly Bike Action.
SKYFOX flew over the group as they left the Art Museum to ride the area. They ended at City Hall. They want city officials to move faster on bike safety, and they want improvements like the raised bike lanes going in on Market Street.
“It only takes a few to make things very dangerous. Obviously, this is what happened to my husband. So, we want people to be more aware of our rights to be on the road too and just to understand that people are just trying to get around,” said Fenton.
The Source: The infortmation in this story is from Philly Bike Action, Philadelphia Police and the wife of bicyclist Harry Fenton.
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