{"id":23000,"date":"2021-06-23T11:32:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T18:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/?p=23000"},"modified":"2021-06-23T11:32:40","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T18:32:40","slug":"one-year-after-a-driver-killed-her-husband-a-widow-speaks-about-the-need-for-safer-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2021\/06\/23\/one-year-after-a-driver-killed-her-husband-a-widow-speaks-about-the-need-for-safer-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"One Year After a Driver Killed Her Husband, a Widow Speaks About the Need for Safer Roads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Teena Johnson of Tacoma urges people driving to be more cautious around people on bikes, and for car owners to buy Share the Road plates. Moreover, she wants elected leaders to invest in safer streets.<\/em><\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After a year of grief and healing, Teena Johnson is stepping forward to speak about the car crash that killed her husband as he rode his bicycle near Port Orchard.

\u201cI want to speak out now and put a personal face on this issue. I want to spare others the same pain,\u201d Johnson says.

Her message: people driving must be more cautious around people on bikes. And state, county and local governments must make our streets safer for bicycles.

Thomas Johnson, 56, died on May 9, 2020, after being hit from behind by an impaired hit-and-run driver. \u201cThomas loved to ride, and he was doing everything he needed to do that day to be safe,\u201d Teena Johnson says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Thomas was a safety-conscious rider who bicycled for health, happiness, transportation, and friendship, she says. \u201cThomas would have wanted me to speak out. People riding bikes are vulnerable and we are not doing enough to protect them.\u201d

Thomas was also vocal about the need to make roads safer for people on bikes. Before heading out on his last ride, he wrote a social media post about a car crash that severely injured a member of the Tacoma bicycling community.

Thomas bought a Share the Road license plate for his car, Teena says. She encourages more people, especially people who ride frequently, to buy a Share the Road plate as well. \u201cWe need to do whatever we can to make drivers more aware of bikes on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Washington Bikes’ affiliate Cascade Bicycle Club encourages its members and all Washingtonians to get a Share the Road plate. Cascade receives $28 from the sale of every Share the Road plate by the state Department of Licensing.<\/a> The revenues go directly to Cascade\u2019s advocacy work promoting more bicycle infrastructure and safer streets.<\/p>\n

Read about the history of Washington\u2019s Share the Road plates and the 13-year-old boy whose death inspired them in our 2020 story, \u201cThe Legacy of Cooper Jones: How a Family\u2019s Loss Led to Washington\u2019s \u2018Share the Road\u2019 License Plates<\/a>.\u201d

A Police Officer at the Door<\/strong><\/p>\n

Johnson agreed to speak about the day of her husband\u2019s death in the hope that sharing the story of her family\u2019s painful loss will touch others and encourage people driving to empathize with people on bikes. \u201cThomas was a vocal advocate for biking and bike safety for the whole 25 years that I knew him,\u201d Teena says, \u201cand my kids and I hope to carry that forward for him as best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

It was a beautiful day for a ride on Saturday, May 9, 2020, when Thomas pedaled away from home in Tacoma, crossed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and headed through Gig Harbor toward Port Orchard. He and Teena planned to have dinner upon his return.

Thomas rode with a rear-view camera, a gift from Teena, on his bike. A growing number of road riders use these cameras to record the actions of cars behind or around them, so that the footage can be used by law enforcement in the event of a dangerous incident. \u201cThomas was very aware of the fact that many drivers who kill people on bikes get away with it and are never prosecuted because there is no evidence. Thomas had the camera on and it recorded the whole incident,\u201d Teena says.

As Thomas rode on the shoulder of Bethel-Burley Road, a designated bike route, a car driven by a man who apparently fell asleep at the wheel drifted right and crashed into him. Thomas was found dead at the scene. The driver was arrested about a mile down the road.

When Thomas failed to return home on time, Teena repeatedly called him. No answer. Several hours later, a police officer wearing a chaplain\u2019s badge showed up at their home. \u201cThe police were able to find me because of the RoadID bracelet that Thomas had on him,\u201d says Teena, who recommends these bracelets.

The hours and days following were a blur. Teena called her adult children and alerted Thomas\u2019s parents. Due to the pandemic, his parents, who are in their 80s, were unable to visit. COVID-19 also made it impossible to hold a proper funeral.

\u201cThese deadly crashes affect so many people. It\u2019s not just the family that is impacted. There is a ripple effect through the community–friends, co-workers, acquaintances,\u201d Teena says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In March, a judge accepted a guilty plea from the man who killed Thomas and sentenced him to nine years in prison for vehicular homicide. In addition to family members, several of Thomas\u2019s cycling friends addressed the court, telling the judge that they are haunted by the crash. Some said they are bicycling less.

In May, during National Bike Month, Teena spoke out publicly for the first time about the crash and its impact by writing a letter to the Tacoma Tribune<\/a><\/em>. She was critical of a newspaper headline that focused on the \u201cfriction\u201d between people driving and people bicycling.

She dislikes the \u201cus versus them\u201d attitude that some people have when driving cars. The anger or annoyance that some drivers show toward people riding bikes on the streets must stop, she says. People on bikes have a right to be on our streets.

\u201cBecause I have to, I urge all drivers to imagine that is your spouse, your child or your friend cycling on the road as you pass by and that you show them the care you would with your own loved ones,\u201d she wrote. She added that \u201cit is our duty as members of a community, and human beings, to watch out for those who are more vulnerable.\u201d

A Birthday Memorial, Back on the Bike<\/strong><\/p>\n

A ghost bike has been erected at the crash site, and many people continue to leave messages and mementos to Thomas. He would have turned 58 next month.

The Johnson family and friends plan to hold a memorial on his birthday, July 17, in Tacoma\u2019s Point Defiance Park. Teena says that anyone who wants to bicycle to the gathering is welcomed. She hopes for a big turnout in remembrance of Thomas.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Teena Johnson only recently worked up the courage to get back on a bike. She enjoys riding with her children and family members. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to ride at all last summer, and even now I\u2019m very nervous riding near cars.\u201d

She recently bought an electric bike. The electric boost is nice. It reminds her of the boost Thomas provided when they rode together. On long hills, Thomas would ride beside her and put his hand on Teena’s back or the rear of her saddle. He would give her a gentle push so they could reach the top together.<\/p>\n

More Information:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Washington Bikes is grateful to Teena Johnson for sharing her story. We encourage our members and the broader bicycling community to buy a Share the Road plate when renewing their automobile registration through the Washington Department of Licensing<\/a>.

People driving motor vehicles killed 12 people on bikes in Washington in 2020, according to the state traffic safety commission.<\/a> That’s three more deaths than in 2019, but slightly down from a five-year average that had been steadily climbing.

Motor vehicles have killed at least two people riding bikes in Seattle this year. Read our stories about the memorial rides and ghost bikes erected in their honor in Georgetown<\/a> and Seward Park<\/a>.

Washington Bikes works to pass policies and increase funding statewide for safe bicycling infrastructure and safer streets. To reduce fatalities, Washington Bikes and Cascade Bicycle Club support Vision Zero efforts of the state and local governments to eliminate fatal car crashes that kill people walking and riding bikes. Seattle has taken a step in the right direction by lowering speed limits on most arterial streets to 25 mph. Reductions in motor vehicle speeds directly correlate with fewer fatalities for people both bicycling and walking.<\/p>\n

Protected bike lanes such as the one being constructed around Seattle\u2019s Green Lake<\/a> are likewise effective at reducing fatalities. In Tacoma, where Teena Johnson lives, the city recently completed the Pipeline Trail, but there is a big lack of safe bicycling infrastructure citywide and across Pierce County. Tacoma residents interested in working to make streets safer for people on bicycles should consider joining the Tacoma Bicycle Pedestrian Technical Advisory Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teena Johnson of Tacoma urges people driving to be more cautious around people on bikes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[18,29,28],"tags":[511],"class_list":["post-23000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-wa-bikes-news","category-share-the-road","tag-share-the-road"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOne Year After a Driver Killed Her Husband, a Widow Speaks About the Need for Safer Roads - Washington Bikes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2021\/06\/23\/one-year-after-a-driver-killed-her-husband-a-widow-speaks-about-the-need-for-safer-roads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One Year After a Driver Killed Her Husband, a Widow Speaks About the Need for Safer Roads - 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