{"id":22606,"date":"2020-09-17T17:06:28","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T00:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wabikes.org\/?p=22606"},"modified":"2020-09-21T07:42:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T14:42:22","slug":"the-legacy-of-cooper-jones-how-a-familys-loss-led-to-washingtons-share-the-road-license-plates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2020\/09\/17\/the-legacy-of-cooper-jones-how-a-familys-loss-led-to-washingtons-share-the-road-license-plates\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legacy of Cooper Jones: How a Family\u2019s Loss Led to Washington\u2019s \u2018Share the Road\u2019 License Plates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

David Jones got the call he will never forget in the early evening of June 24, 1997, from an acquaintance who raced on the local bike club with his son, Cooper.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to go to the hospital right away. Cooper has been hurt,\u201d the caller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid he break his arm?\u201d Jones asked.<\/p>\n

The caller wouldn\u2019t say. Jones and his wife, Martha, raced to the hospital, hoping for the best but fearing the worst.<\/p>\n

The events of the weeks and months that followed would forever change their lives–and make an indelible mark on Washington state\u2019s bicycle safety laws. This is the story of a boy who loved racing bikes, the parents who fostered that passion, their quest to make the roads safer for people riding bicycles, and the creation of Washington\u2019s Share the Road<\/a> license plates.<\/p>\n

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Cooper Jones took up bike racing in 1996 at the urging of his parents, who had watched him progress from speeding around their neighborhood to dropping them on long rides down the Centennial Trail in their hometown of Spokane. One day, they bumped into some members of the local Baddlands Cycling Club, and Martha convinced them to accept Cooper into their group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were so kind to Cooper,\u201d David Jones says. \u201cImagine being 11 or 12 and going on rides with adults who aren\u2019t your parents and who think you are cool. He really got into it after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper was excited for the race on June 24, 1997, a time trial near Cheney, Wash. After only a year of racing he was among the points leaders on the team. David or Martha typically attended Cooper\u2019s races, but this would be the first time he would compete without them.<\/p>\n

Twenty-three years later, the anguish remains fresh in David Jones\u2019 mind. \u201cIt\u2019s still very hard to accept,\u201d he told Cascade in an emotional interview.<\/p>\n

According to Jones and media reports from the time, Cooper was pedaling westbound along Highway 904 when the driver of a Cadillac passed a group of bike racers, then slammed Cooper from behind. He smashed into the windshield, and when the driver hit the brakes, Cooper slid off the hood and was run over, pinning him underneath the car.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The driver, a 66-year-old woman, had poor eyesight and other health problems, according to David Jones. \u201cI don\u2019t think she knew what had happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper was eventually extracted from underneath the vehicle, allowing first responders to perform CPR and transport him by helicopter to Deaconess hospital in Spokane.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when David Jones got the call.<\/p>\n

Mother and father arrived at the hospital to find Cooper unconscious and hooked to life support in the trauma unit. Cooper never regained consciousness. A week later, on July 2, 1997, his parents made the heartrending decision to remove Cooper from life support. \u201cThere was no hope that he would ever recover,\u201d David Jones says.<\/p>\n

Their grief was compounded in the months to follow, when, after a three-month investigation, the Washington State Patrol declined to criminally prosecute the driver, instead determining that she was guilty of second-degree negligent driving. The fine: $250.<\/p>\n

The Jones family decided against suing the driver. \u201cI have empathy for her, but you just think, there has to be a bigger repercussion for negligently causing a death. It\u2019s still incomprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Cooper\u2019s death, there was concern that the state would cancel all bike racing–and even large group rides such as Cascade’s Seattle to Portland. \u201cThere were no protocols in place,\u201d says Phil Miller, a transportation planner at the University of Washington and a certified bike racing official who was involved in discussions at the time.<\/p>\n

The Jones family worked with the bike racing community to bring state agencies to the table in 1998 to create the Washington State Bicycle Racing Guidelines<\/a>, which enabled bicycle events such as STP and other Cascade major group rides and events to continue.<\/p>\n

Updated in 2010, these guidelines remain in effect today. \u201cThey have become a national standard,\u201d says Miller, noting that at least six states have replicated Washington\u2019s guidelines. “It\u2019s much safer today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoping to prevent other families from suffering the same grief, the Jones family teamed up with the Bicycle Alliance of Washington (now called Washington Bikes) and convinced legislators to introduce a bill that was signed into law in 1998. The Cooper Jones Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Education Act, among other things, mandated that any driver at fault in a fatal crash must be re-tested by the Department of Licensing to ensure they are capable of driving safely. The driver who struck Cooper was \u201cthe poster child for someone who shouldn\u2019t have been driving in the first place,\u201d David Jones says.<\/p>\n

The Cooper Jones Act also created a state commission<\/a>, then known as the Cooper Jones Bicyclist Safety Advisory Council, to recommend safety and educational improvements to make the roads safer for people riding bikes.<\/p>\n

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The only problem: there was little to no funding for the commission, which remained largely toothless for many years, even taking a six-year hiatus until 2013 when it was reconvened. Today, it is known as the Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Council, and it advocates for the safety of people biking and walking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Legislature was not very friendly to bicycling back then,\u201d says Cascade member Don Martin, who is credited with coming up with the idea for Washington’s Share the Road plates. He had heard about Florida\u2019s Share the Road license plates and felt they would be popular here. In the early 2000s, he convinced a state senator to introduce a bill to create a similar plate in Washington as a way to generate revenue for bicycle safety and to create a visual reminder for people driving to be alert for bikes on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of that terrible incident, and the fact the driver got away with it, I thought something had to be done,\u201d Martin, now 92, says. \u201cNobody in the Legislature or the State Patrol had any idea how many bicycle riders there were in Washington, and we needed something to identify who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill failed to pass in multiple legislative sessions due to financial concerns. In 2005, a compromise was reached whereby supporters posted a bond to cover the costs of creating the Share the Road plate program, and in 2006 the plates went on sale–inspiring many other states to create bicycle advocacy plates.<\/p>\n

Today, about half of U.S. states offer Share the Road license plates.<\/p>\n

While demand was initially high, sales have waned in recent years.<\/p>\n

Approximately 2,800 Share the Road plates were registered in Washington in August of 2020. Costing $77.25 for a passenger vehicle, each plate generates $28 for Cascade, which spends the money on safety, education, and policy measures meant to reduce collisions between people driving automobiles and people walking and bicycling. Last year, Cascade received about $85,000 from Share the Road plates.<\/p>\n

The need for road safety and zero traffic fatalities of walkers and bicyclists remains great. Nearly a quarter of all traffic fatalities, and 20 percent of all serious traffic related injuries, were to people walking or biking, according to the 2019 Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Council annual report<\/a>, which notes that the number of people killed while walking or biking was at its highest number in more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

In light of these statistics, Cascade, as well as the Jones family, is urging its members and supporters, and everyone who rides bikes, to consider purchasing a Share the Road plate<\/a>.<\/strong> Cascade hopes to double sales of the plates to boost revenue for its advocacy programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have them on all three of our vehicles,\u201d David Jones says. One of those vehicles is a camper van that Cooper inspired his parents to buy. \u201cHis dream was to get a car that he could sleep in, so he could go to bike races,\u201d Jones says. The van\u2019s license plate carries the enthusiastic phrase that Cooper, the boy who \u201chad it all,\u201d wanted to have on his own vehicle: GOTITAL.<\/p>\n

David Jones, now 70 and recently retired, looks forward to hitting the road in the camper van, exploring new places by bike as Cooper hoped to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are better now but you never truly get over it,\u201d David Jones says. \u201cWe see people that Cooper went to school with who are now in their mid-30s, and who have families of their own. It\u2019s a constant reminder of what should have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s legacy lives on in the Cooper Jones Act, landmark legislation that, in addition to leading to the creation of the Share the Road plates, opened the door to many other initiatives that continue to protect vulnerable street users to this day, including:<\/p>\n

Adding bicycle and pedestrian safety into the state\u2019s drivers\u2019 education curriculum;<\/p>\n