Three months after Louisa Gag, a transportation planner in Boston’s City Hall, was killed while riding her bike to work, nearly 300 cyclists set out on an honorary loop from the Boston Common.
They rode for Gag, who was 30 when she was fatally struck by a truck driver in Mission Hill. They rode for John Corcoran, who was killed on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, and Sidney Olson, a 5-year-old who was hit while crossing the street in Andover.
They rode for dozens of family and friends who died senseless deaths, they said, as a result of preventable traffic violence.
“We need safer roads. We need safer trucks. We need safer speeds,” said Eric Olson, Sidney’s father. “If we fix those things, we fix the issue.”
The ride started and ended at the corner of Boston Common closest to the Massachusetts State House, a fitting backdrop for the latest call to action spearheaded by advocacy organizations like MassBike, Families for Safe Streets Massachusetts, and the national nonprofit, Ride For Your Life. Tomorrow, Gag’s parents will also meet with legislators, said Representative Steven Owens, to talk about legislative priorities for the next session.
Brendan Carney, the executive director of Walk Massachusetts, called on the legislature to allow municipalities to install road safety cameras to better enforce speed limits and driving violations. Over the summer, state senators included a provision in a $575 million economic development bill to permit the cameras in both school and safety zones, and near active construction sites. The bill remains stalled in the State House.
Olson said more safety measures in trucks, like automatic braking, could have saved his daughter’s life.
“The solutions are known. If I were to stand up here right now and say, ‘Hey, everybody, great news! I have the cure to cancer, but you’re not allowed to use it,’ there would be an uproar,” he said. “We have the cure. Now it’s time to let us use these things.”
The details of each crash differ, but the story is all too the same for family and friends whose loved ones were fatal victims in traffic crashes.
Ten days ago, Barbara Bower, Corcoran’s widow, was in a Cambridge courthouse as the driver of the SUV that killed her husband pleaded guilty to motor vehicle homicide and was sentenced to serve one year in jail. Bower said the case was an opportunity for “the court to assure cyclists that their lives and well-being matter.”
“John wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was wearing a helmet, biking in a safe manner on an elevated bike path separate from the road,” she said. “Whether a cyclist is traveling on a street, in a bike lane, or on a bike path, their lives should be valued by society and our courts.”
After Gag’s death, bike safety advocates criticized Mayor Michelle Wu for previously stalling upgrades to dangerous roads. For years, the corner Gag was hit had been flagged by Boston city officials for lacking in “bike safety and comfort.” But a completion date to improve the stretch of road had been left as “to be determined” at the time of her death.
Wu, who was visibly emotional at a vigil for Gag in July, later responded by announcing a series of immediate improvements such as installing concrete barriers on bike lanes, fixing sidewalks and curb ramps, prioritizing current gaps in the network of bike lanes, and meeting monthly with advocacy groups.
Both local policy changes, coupled with national action, like advocacy for better truck safety laws, will continue to decrease traffic deaths, said Dan Langenkamp, the founder of Ride For Your Life.
Langenkamp founded Ride For Your Life in honor of his late wife, Sarah Langenkamp, who was living in Bethesda, Md., with their two sons when a truck crashed into her while she was biking in 2022.
In the last four years, Dan Langenkamp has channeled his grief into advocacy, organizing events like the one on Sunday, across the country.
Earlier this month, cyclists participated in a similar ride and rally in Madison, Wis. In November, Ride For Your Life will bike around the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and end outside the US Capitol to commemorate the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
But in Boston, the event held a special meaning for the Langenkamps, as Sarah Langenkamp was a graduate of Boston College and Dan Langenkamp attended Tufts University for graduate school.
Traveling in from as far as California, Sarah Langenkamp’s former Boston College roommates joined the ride to honor their friend.
“She had an unwavering zest for life,” said Karleen Greene Fallon, who lived with her for all four years of college. “She was so energetic, involved, smart, curious, dedicated, passionate.”
In organizing the Boston ride, Dan Langenkamp planned for cyclists to bike a 6-mile loop through the South End toward Fenway, before coming back through Back Bay. The ride took bikers down Tremont Street, near the site of Gag’s crash, but not to the exact spot. He worried the intersection is still too dangerous.
Michaela Towfighi can be reached at michaela.towfighi@globe.com. Follow her on X @michaelatowfghi.