Ride of Silence - John Sinibaldi St Pete Bicycle Club

Wednesday evening (15), bicycle riders across the nation will be taking part in Rides of Silence to remember those killed or injured in crashes, and o promote bike and pedestrian safety. We speak with John Sinibaldi of the St. Petersburg Bicycle Club 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News.In Saint Petersburg, in many locations around
the country, bicyclists are taking partin a Ride of Silence on Wednesday,
May fifteenth. It's an event tocall attention to bicycle safety and has a
memorial to bicyclists who have been injuredor killed in crashes in Saint Petersburg,

(00:26):
in Florida and elsewhere. We haveJohn Cinibaldi of the Saint Petersburg Bicycle Club
and we're going to talk about theRide of Silence and why it's important and
what we can do for bicycle safety. John Sinibalde, welcome to Beyond the
News. God, thank you forhaving us. Florida has a reputation of
having dangerous roads for people who aren'tsurrounded by a metal bubble, and I

(00:50):
believe that there are some pretty significantnumbers as far as cyclists and pedestrian fatalities
in Florida, for example. Andtell us about the message that's being delivered
by the Right of Silence, whichis happening not just in Saint Petersburg,
but around Florida and around the nation. I think the message we're trying to

(01:11):
convey is that we all motorists,bicyclists, pedestrians need to work harder at
sharing the road safely. It canbe done. I think the infrastructure of
Florida can be improved, certainly,But the biggest part of it is just
the awareness for motorists and for cyclistsand for pedestrians to all just to understand

(01:32):
that we're all trying to use thesame space, the same pavement, and
to do that safely, we justhave to be coggnazant of each other and
really work hard at sharing the road. Florida has had its share of problems
with bicycle and pedestrians safety. Wouldyou say that Florida is especially unsafe or

(01:53):
problematic for cyclists and you mentioned infrastructure? Is that a factor as well?
I think the infrastructure is and Iknow, for example, the city of
Saint Peter's worked very hard over thelast decade or so to improve cycling infrastructure
to try and make it safer forvulnerable users road users. I'm not sure

(02:13):
if Florida is any more dangerous asmuch as it is. We are in
the Sunshine State. It's beautiful heretwelve months of the year. We ride
year round. Many northern states,for example, don't have that opportunity.
People don't ride in the winter upin New York and for the most part,
and so I just think we havemore people on the roads here for
cyclists, and of course the statecontinues to grow for populations, so more

(02:35):
motorists along the road. I hesitateto say we are less safer or more
problematic than it is. I justthink our population continues to expand, and
we have to work hard as advocatesfor cyclists and with our municipalities in the
state to make sure that the infrastructuregrows with us safely. Tell us about

(02:55):
how the Ride of Silence works,how you'll be doing that Wednesday evening.
Well, we will do a veryquick safety briefly before we start, and
we welcome anybody. We encourage youto come out and ride with us.
If you have a beach cruiser ora road bicycle or a mountain bike,
it doesn't make a difference. It'sgoing to be a very easy pace and

(03:17):
and basically we just we're just goingto go around downtown Saint Pete. We
ride in silence, like like thethe ride says, with the idea being
too on to those who have eitherpassed away because of motorists versus bicycle accidents
or those who were injured. I'mone of those many people. I've been

(03:37):
hit twice by a car in theforty five years i've been riding down here,
so unfortunately it does happen. Andand just basically just just try and
bring awareness to the community in SaintPete and and again, like you said,
around the country that the cyclists belong, we are part of the We
are part of the community. Nowkind of some specifics about when and where

(04:00):
here, I understand many of theseevents step off at seven in the evening.
Yours is going to be taking placeat six pm, that is correct.
We are going to go a littleearlier. We're living at six pm
from north Shore Aquatic Center more commonlyknown as north Shore Pool in Saint Pete.
That's at nine to one north ShoreDrive Northeast in Saint Petersburg. And
again we'll have a brief safety meetingand then we're just going to go ahead

(04:24):
and go up to Beach Drive,head south to Second Avenue, up to
ninth which is at Doctor MLK Street, and then up north to thirtieth Avenue
and then back down to first andthen and then come back to the pool.
So the entire course is probably maybefive or six miles. It's not
very long. If you happen toknow how long has this event been going
on and over the time you've beeninvolved with it, have you seen some

(04:46):
improvements? Do you think it's helpedto communicate the message. I think it
has. I've been involved on andoff for quite a few years. I
don't know how long the Ride ofSilence has been going on overall, but
I've been doing it for at leasta decade and maybe longer, so I'm
trying to remember going back. ButI think it helps. I think anything

(05:06):
that helps bring awareness to the greatercommunity, not just the people that see
us, but through things like yourpodcasts and your radio shows and TV stations
that you represent and get the wordout there to motorists that we're out here,
we are vulnerable, we just wantto ride our bicycles and share the

(05:29):
road safely, and then also,frankly, to let cyclists know that we
have a responsibility as well to obeythe law, stop at stop signs and
stop lights and do those sort ofthings. So I do think it helps,
and just to run down some ofthe other cities in Florida that are
holding are You Right of Silence includeClaremont, Miami, Fort Myers, Jacksonville,
Lakeland, Naples, Pensacola, SantaBelle Island, Sarasota, Tampa,

(05:54):
the Villages, and Vero Beach.And if you want to look up an
event in one of those communities,there is a website www. Dot rideofsilence
dot org. John Cinibaldi of theSaint Petersburg Bicycle Club, thank you for
joining us on Beyond the News.Gordon, thank you very much for having
us and maybe we'll see you themon and the ride.