Hi team, 

The following is from Laura Downey.  Let's be safe out there. 

Subject: Memorial Ride 

This is a message from Velo La Grange bike club. If you have any questions about the ride, please contact Peter Schindler at schincat@aol.com. After the message is the text of a story about this terrible tragedy. I encourage everyone to support this ide, tell your friends about it, and always ride safely. 

On April 11, Debra Goldsmith, a Velo La Grange club member, was struck and killed by a motorist as she was cycling home from a ride. In her memory and in memory of all of cyclists who have been killed by motorists, Velo Club La Grange in conjunction with Velo Allegro, is putting together a memorial ride on Saturday, May 26. 

We wish to invite all clubs in Southern California to join us for this ride. We want to call attention to the plight we cyclists face everytime we ride. We want motorists to learn to share the road. 

The ride will take place on Saturday morning, May 26 at 8:30. Please be on time as we will roll at exactly half past eight. 

The ride will leave from the marina behind the Sea Port Marina Hotel in Long Beach which is located at 6400 E. PCH. The main intersection is PCH and 2nd Street. There is an Albertsons diagonally across the street. The lot at the marina will accommodate 1000 cars. As we expect a large turnout, please carpool as much as possible. 

The ride will be 42 miles long over a flat terrain. It is the same deal as the New Year's Day Ride. It will start at the marina, go south to Newport Coast Drive where it will make an orderly U-turn and return to the marina. 

We will ride easily, 16 to 18 mph in an orderly double paceline formation. Please obey all traffic laws. We want to call attention to ourselves as a positive force. 


HELMETS ARE MANDATORY 

Voler is going to donate black armbands to all the riders. They will be distributed either through your club or on the morning of the ride. Please let me know how many riders from your club we can expect so that Voler will know how many armbands to manufacture. 

If you are interviewed, please remove your helmet and your shades. We want the non-cycling public to see us as people, not as R2D2 in Lycra. We want to stress that we are human beings, not objects. We are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters and grandparents too. We are artists and architects, doctors and lawyers, teachers and musicians. We are loved by our friends and family. We are people who care about each other and about our communities. Please be positive. This is not a protest ride, nor is it a ride to stop traffic or annoy motorists. 

Please email me with any comments or suggestions. 

Thank you 
Peter Schindler 


Palisadian-Post 

April 19, 2001 

Page 1 
Woman Cyclist Killed By Car In the Highlands 

By Laura Witsenhausen, Associate Editor 

    A collision between a car and a bicycle on the morning of Wednesday, April 11, resulted in the death of Palisades Highlands resident Debra Goldsmith, 41. 

 Goldsmith, who was riding her bicycle north on Palisades Drive, was struck by a white Range Rover, also traveling north. The accident took place about one mile north of Sunset, halfway through a notorious stretch of canyon road with no stoplights or stop signs. 

    According to LAPD West Traffic Detective Terry Pearson, the driver, traveling in the right lane, struck Goldsmith around 11 a.m. The right front of the car hit Goldsmith in the back. She was thrown up onto the hood of the vehicle and then onto the roadway. The impact forced her helmet off and she suffered severe head trauma. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. 

    The driver, a female Highlands resident, told police that she did not see Goldsmith until the impact. "The driver indicated she was going 35 to 45 miles per hour and says she wasn't using her cell phone," said Pearson. "We don't have any indication that any other vehicles caused her to swerve. It looks like inattention." 

    Police say there were no witnesses to the accident. 

    The Palisadian-Post contacted the driver's residence, but she did not return the call. 

    Goldsmith, an experienced cyclist who rode her bike almost daily, was returning from a ride to Latigo Canyon at the time the accident occurred. 

    Palisades Drive was closed off to northbound traffic for about three hours as police conducted their investigation. "That is done to protect firefighters and police officers from being struck by people looking at the accident," explained Captain Dan Thompson of Fire Station 23. 

    The accident is still under investigation by the LAPD West Traffic Division. "At the conclusion of the investigation there will be consideration of any criminal findings," Detective Pearson said. 

 Wednesday afternoon, an outpouring of support from the community could be seen at the accident site, where a memorial of flowers has since been placed on the site in honor of Goldsmith. 

    The following day, a computerized speed trailer also went up to track the speed of every driver going by. "Tragically, this is going to finally trigger getting something done [about speeding on Palisades Drive]," said Paul Glasgall, chair of the Palisades Community Council's Traffic Committee, which is working to curb speeding throughout 
the community. 

    Speeding on Palisades Drive has been a community concern for some time, including the morning of the accident. Nicole Bowes, a Palisadian who was driving south on Palisades Drive that same morning, shortly before the accident, recalls seeing two black "power cars" speeding down the street. 

    "I was driving down Palisades Drive and two cars were right behind me going ridiculously fast, 75 to 80 miles per hour," Bowes said. "They appeared to be racing and it scared me. I was saying to myself, 'I just hope there's no accident.'" 

Palisadian-Post