WATER BOTTLES (BIDONS)- THEIR SIGNIFICANCE TO OUR RIDE TODAY
rooman said:
Bring water bottles with messages of your feelings in the injustice of the Humprhies case and the inadequacy of the law and motorists attitudes to cyclists.
Make sure someone writes down the messages from the bottles and they are kept to give to the Parliamentarian/s there at the time. If none turn up, keep the bottles safe and DO NOT put them in a garbage bag....an open mesh bag OK or in boxes , but treat these messages with respect.
Roo
I had a few riders ( and some of the Police at Melb. too) ask me why the Bidons being left as our message vehicle at the Wheels of Justice rides?.... the most immediate and poignant response I had considered was this:
"The Silent Sentinel of Sorrow"
A cyclist when hit by a car suffers great force, sufficient to rip the body from the bicycle, and to scatter all the cylists gear around the scene, pump, energy bars, mobile phones, inner tubes, wheel levers, road rash kit, credit cards, AND the rider's rehydration Bidons. Usually after the cyclist has been taken away, possessions collected by loved ones and the blood washed away, the only thing left behind is usually the BIDON...the silent sentinal of sorrow.
...need we say more ?
our messages for Justice , written on Bidons and left at memorial & protest rides are a significant and lasting vehicles for their serious message.
In Melbourne, we have retained the Bidons presented at the ride, and promised all present, that we will scribe the messages , post them on the web sites related to Wheels of Justice rides
(see :
http:
//bicyclejustice.blogspot.com & possibly the Adelaide site :
http://wheelsofjustice.com.au
Now we must keep together, the ride steerers (stirrers?) in each state, meet, have a nosh and a few rehydrating slurps, and debrief, see the lessons learnt, the opportunities gained and the rewards won to the cause .
On behalf of attendees at Melbourne's ride, a big thank you to all those who promoted & attended in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.
The Wheels of Justice movement , press coverage, forum posts, print and radio media coverage, and now the rides themselves have made a difference, we have had peak body cycling organisations stand up and seek to be counted at last and aligned with us. We now see a strong reaction from Governments in SA ( Royal Commission) and Victoria ( a rush to ensure awareness of mandatory sentencing to be in force in Vic for hit-run drivers.)
So well done!, however, a CAUTION
It is NOT OVER, we have to keep up the influence, maintain pressure and ensure all stakeholders, in this cause, do their bit, act appropriately and ensure support is ongoing.
We've come a long way in a short time-it has been a hard fast journey to this point, but it is not over......
meanwhile, all Cities collect the Bidon messages, post them to be read in our forums and websites, send them to parliaments in all states and make sure those very significant statements from the hearts of so many cyclists are immortalised, in some form of memorial, which leads me to another the likelihood of an extension of this cause, some time, some place there will be a memorial to cyclists who have died at the hands of careless and irresponsible motorists. Perhaps it should be Ian Humphrey's Memorial!, just putting it out there, maybe others have already raised this..but it makes sense, right?
On a well travelled road somewhere, it will be obvious to all who pass, and all who seek it out, just like those memorials to deceased tour riders in France and Italy, like the memorial to cyclists' athleticism at Warnambool, in honour of the competitors of the great Melb-Warnambool annual race (see:
CYCLING MEMORIAL,RAGLAN PARADE, WARRNAMBOOL- http://www.mvermeulen.com/oneyear/Journal/november01.htm 1/3 down the page.)
Now after a hectic week, helping with this, and trying to maintain a professional role at the same time, it is now time to catch up on some sleep, as ................
The journey continues....
Roo
