Patty Kruszewski points to a locked bicycle leaning against a phone poll on River Road in Richmond. The bike is completely painted white, from the rear tire to the tips of the handlebars.

“We are at the scene of the ghost bike where my daughter was killed on July 29, 2012,” she notes.

Ghost bikes are placed as memorials to honor those killed by drivers.

Kruszewski’s 24-year-old daughter Lanie was coming home from work in broad daylight. Around 26,000 cars use this route daily, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

“It’s a narrow road,” Kruszewski emphasizes. “And when she told me she was going home on this road, I said, Lanie, you can’t trust these drivers. It only takes one text. You know, there’s no There’s just no room for error. And she was like, ‘Oh, mom, you know, I have a lot of lights on my bike, I wear light clothes, I wear a helmet.’

In 2023, more than 40,000 people were killed in car crashes nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In Virginia that same year, more than 900 people were killed and nearly 64,000 were injured, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

To cope with his loss, Kruszewski first found a way to Drive Smart in Virginiaa non-profit organization that works to improve road safety. The group helped obtain the law on using a hands-free cell phone passed in 2020. She then found her way to Families for Safe Streets.

Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles

“We often describe ourselves as the group that no one should ever have to join. We have all lost a family member or suffered serious injury in a car accident,” says Amy Cohen, co-founder of Families for Safe Streets. Cohen lost his 12-year-old son Sammy when he was killed crossing a street on his way to soccer practice.

The New York-based group started in 2014 and has now grown nationally with more than 1,000 members and 20 chapters, including one in Richmond. Families for Safe Streets has support groups in English and Spanish. Last month, the group launched an interactive story map that allows users to post images and stories.

“So that people can honor their loved ones or themselves if they’ve been hurt so that we can really put a broad face on this crisis,” Cohen says.

Lanie, Kruszewski’s daughter, is on the story map. Just like Jay Hightman’s daughter, Robyn. The Charlottesville resident lost his daughter in 2019 while they worked as a bike messenger in New York.

Hightman says he has worked with Families for Safe Streets for five years.

“I appreciate those who, when I share my story, say, ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ But in reality, it’s those who have been down this path who truly know the magnitude of it,” says Hightman.

Hightman and Kruszewski will participate in World Remembrance Day. Families for Safe Streets is organizing the national effort.

Kruszewski, who will visit her daughter’s grave at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, says she looks forward to that day. “Because it’s a way to help me, even just saying my child’s name and showing their picture. »

Jay Hightman could go to Washington DC or go to New York to join the locals. He hopes the day will draw more attention to the staggering number of people killed each year due to road violence.

“I sincerely hope that not only the leaders of the United States, but also those around the world, will approach this crisis in the same way that the pandemic was approached,” says Hightman. “Because it’s a pandemic that hasn’t abated.”

Cohen says that last year, Families for Safe Streets held more than 75 events across the country. The closest event this year to Central Virginia will be a “Ride for your life”, in Washington DC This is a slow 10-mile ride with a separate one-mile walk to the Lincoln Memorial.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radiowas made possible thanks to the support of Virginia Education Association.