October 2020 – Mark your calendars for, Sunday, November 15th, the annual international World Day of Remembrance of Road Traffic Victims. This is a chance to memorialize loved ones lost and affected by the ravages of unsafe streets, policies, and practices that allow for more than 1.3 million people to die each year worldwide, including nearly 40,000 annually in the U.S. This is a chance to help people understand that these tragedies — and millions more severe injuries — are not unavoidable “accidents” but rather preventable results of systems and policies that are deeply broken. This is a chance to advance Vision Zero work to prioritize safety over speed and to advocate for change.
Join representatives from Vision Zero Hillsborough and City of Tampa on Sunday, November 15 at 9:00 a.m. at Ben T. Davis Beach, located at 7740 W. Courtney Campbell Causeway for a Mourning of Remembrance to honor Hillsborough’s 2020 victims of traffic violence and their families. The names of the victims will be read aloud, as we pin cards bearing their names to participants’ shirts and don masks representing each voice that can no longer be heard. We then invite everyone in attendance to stroll together on the Courtney Campbell Trail – on bike, on foot, on scooters, or whichever non-motorized mode you choose.
Between January 1 and October 9, 2020, there have been 140 people killed in Hillsborough County, consisting of 37 pedestrians, 11 bicyclists, 20 motorcyclists, and 72 motorists. Adding serious and incapacitating injury crashes with fatalities, that’s 858 serious crashes, and there are still 2+ months left in the year. Please plan to attend and help spread the word that something must change. Visit the Vision Zero webpage a week before the event to view final details. #WDoR2020
