Wednesday's Ride of Silence Remembers Hailey Ratliff, Others Killed in Bike Accidents

By Tracey Ruiz

Hailey Ratliff will be one of the bicyclists remembered by friends in a 10-mile Ride of Silence memorial bike ride that will start out in Blackie’s Pasture in Tiburon on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Ratliff, a 12-year-old seventh grader, was hit in September 2012 by an SUV on Novato Boulevard just west of San Marin High School on her way home from Sinaola Middle School.

Sinaloa parent Barb Curtice said her daughter Evan was one of a handful of students who'd made friends with Hailey, who was new to Novato at the time of the accident.

“Evan was a friend of Hailey’s for not even five weeks before the accident,” said Curtice.  

“I asked her if she wanted to participate in the ride and she said, ‘Yes, of course,’” said Curtice. “She’s done a lot of growing up in a short period of time, losing her friend.”

San Rafael resident Stephen Bingham, the local organizer of the international event, said that Evan plans to speak just before the ride begins.

Bingham started coordinating the ride in Marin after the 2009 death of his daughter Sylvia, in Cleveland, Ohio while she was on her way to her volunteer job, just four months after her college graduation.

Bingham said his daughter was riding her bicycle in the curb lane and was hit by a truck making a right hand turn.

“She and a commercial truck were going through a major intersection and the truck driver, we surmised, realized there was construction ahead and he made a split second decision to go one block over,” Bingham said.

This is the fourth year of the local event and Bingham said the ride is a way for families to come together to remember anyone who has been killed while riding a bike or motorcycle.

Participation varies between 10-20 riders and Bingham thinks that the low turnout reflects that for cyclists it raises the sad consequences and dangers of sharing roadways with cars.

But Bingham adds that the ride also contributes to the overall safety goals for both drivers and cyclists. “It’s a graphic reminder of why it’s important to be safe.”

He also pointed to the ongoing efforts by bicycle coalitions to improve road safety and reduce speed limits for drivers.

“A broad goal is to reduce speed limits by 5 miles per hour in heavily biked areas,” Bingham said.

In the case of Hailey Ratliff, the family filed a lawsuit against the city of Novato for “dangerous condition of public property” and an overgrowth of vegetation along Novato Boulevard that obscured speed limit signage and pedestrian crossings. There is no crosswalk in the 45 mph area where Hailey was struck.

The accident in Novato has mobilized Barb Curtice to work at the local level to make changes, including helping with Sinaloa’s recent participation in National Bike to School.

She’s also part of a task force called Safer Travel for Novato that she said is working with Safe Routes to School, the Marin Bicycle Coalition and the city of Novato to determine traffic calming measures at hot spots.

“We want to remember what’s happened and learn from what’s happened,” Curtice said.

One of the goals of the group is to make sure that students receive bicycle safety education, especially at the middle school level. She said in the long run this education effort benefits cyclists. “We have to remember that these are future drivers,” she added.

Curtice said she and her daughter are looking forward to the memorial bike ride that is done at a slow-pace and in silence. It does not require registration or fees.

The Marin Ride of Silence will meet at Blackie’s Pasture in Tiburon at 6:45 p.m. for a 7 p.m. departure. The 10-mile loop is described by the organizer as a moderate ride with some of it on bike lanes and some on country roads.

Curtice understands that for Novato families it may be a trek to gather in Tiburon but she’s encouraging riders to come out to support the memorial ride.
She has been in contact with Hailey’s mother, Angela Ratliff, since the family moved back to their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico shortly after the accident.

“She wished she could have been here for the ride,” Curtice said. “It’s helpful for the family to know that Hailey hasn’t been forgotten.