2 years ago
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CNN —
On Thursday, Dan Langenkamp marked 12 weeks since his wife, Sarah, was killed.
To grant her, Dan and his 2 young sons bash what they bash each time astatine astir 4:05 p.m., the clip Sarah died: They driblet immoderate they are moving on, stitchery together, clasp hands and speech to her, sharing details astir their day. They archer her they emotion her, they miss her, and they anticipation she’s arrogant of them.
Sarah Debbink Langenkamp was killed August 25 portion riding her motorcycle connected a Bethesda, Maryland, road. She was traveling connected the biker’s lane erstwhile the operator of a flatbed motortruck alongside her made a close crook into a parking batch and ran implicit the 42-year-old, constabulary said. She was pronounced dormant astatine the scene.
“I’ve tried to marque consciousness of what happened to Sarah, and since I started looking into it, I’ve realized this is not a freakish accident,” Dan Langenkamp said. “What happened to her is portion of a huge, worsening inclination successful America of radical getting killed successful postulation crashes. There’s an epidemic of postulation unit against radical walking oregon biking.”
The mishap came conscionable weeks aft the couple, some diplomats, moved backmost to the US aft spending astir a twelvemonth and a fractional successful Ukraine and aboriginal successful Poland, connected the border. They were portion of a tiny radical of US authorities employees who stayed down aft Russia’s penetration but yet made the hard determination to leave, truthful they could reunite with their 2 sons – Oliver, 10 and Axel, 8 – whom they had sent to their grandparents successful California erstwhile the warfare archetypal started.
The mates spent a fewer weeks successful Washington DC earlier moving to Bethesda, wherever they were eagerly preparing for the commencement of a caller chapter. Sarah enrolled successful a master’s grade people and, 3 days aft their determination there, attended an unfastened location astatine her son’s caller simple school. A fewer minutes earlier she got connected her motorcycle to instrumentality location that evening, she called Dan to stock her impressions. It was the past telephone she ever made.
“We’ve lived successful unsafe places,” Langenkamp said. “The past happening we expected was that 1 of america would dice oregon get wounded successful Bethesda.”
His anger, Langenkamp said, has been a driving unit to propulsion for alteration successful motorcycle safety. A GoFundMe campaign Langenkamp created has raised much than $289,000 to assistance section and nationalist cycling information organizations successful their efforts to advocator for safer motorcycle routes.
And connected Saturday, hundreds of radical biked to Congress successful Sarah’s grant successful a 10.5-mile Ride for Your Life lawsuit her hubby organized and led. Just feet from the Capitol, a enactment of speakers, including Langenkamp, spoke to a oversea of bikers astatine the extremity of their travel retracing Sarah’s way connected the time she died.
The group’s requests to lawmakers see backing for the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program, which was authorized by Congress but not funded and which tin assistance section governments put successful motorcycle lane infrastructure. They’re besides asking for much measures astir motortruck safety, including mandating amended grooming and requiring broadside and beforehand guards connected ample trucks to forestall radical from getting caught underneath.
“I get comfortableness knowing that, possibly done each of this work, immoderate different parent volition thrust location safely aft riding her motorcycle to work,” Langenkamp said. “And that’s meaningful to me.”
For galore advocates, the combat for safer roads has been agelong and difficult, adjacent amid worsening trends for biker and pedestrian safety. The problems person lone been exacerbated by increased operator recklessness during the pandemic and bigger, heavier – and deadlier – vehicles connected the roads, said Colin Browne, a spokesperson for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association.
More than 930 cyclists were killed connected American roads successful 2020, a 9% summation from the anterior year, and much than 38,800 were injured, according to information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nearly 80% of fatal bicyclist crashes that twelvemonth were successful municipality areas, the bureau said. At slightest 985 cyclists were killed successful 2021, a 5% summation from 2020, according to aboriginal estimates from the NHTSA. Since 1975, deaths among cyclists 20 oregon older person astir quadrupled, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
“It’s a nationalist wellness crisis,” Browne said. “Even much truthful due to the fact that this is, from a method standpoint, not a challenging occupation to solve. The tools and the engineering to marque the streets safer to usage is retired there, it’s tested, it’s proven.”
But creating safer streets for bikers and pedestrians and regulating ample vehicles has often proved a politically unpopular move, which has led to dilatory enactment from section leaders, helium added.
“We could springiness (funding) to buses and radical connected bikes and scooters, but we person benignant of built an infrastructure that assumes the bulk of radical volition drive,” Browne said.
Anna Irwin besides rode her motorcycle with her 10-year-old girl astatine Saturday’s lawsuit to grant Sarah’s memory. She told CNN she was moved by the size of the assemblage and the dependable of motorcycle bells ringing to amusement their enactment for Langenkamp.
“It was unbelievably powerful,” she said. “One of the things that I learned precise rapidly erstwhile I got into motorcycle advocacy is this assemblage is truthful passionate. And they amusement up.”
Irwin founded the Bethesda BIKE Now coalition, a section radical created successful effect to a 2017 determination from section leaders to unopen down a fashionable motorcycle way which ran done Bethesda during the operation of a obstruction line.
In these 5 years, the radical has called for the completion of a web of protected motorcycle routes – formed by 2 large paths – moving from 1 broadside of Bethesda to the other, portion the existing way remains closed. But advancement has been slow, Irwin said.
“Here we are, successful 2022, and neither 1 of the routes is completed,” Irwin said. “They’ve done immoderate work, but successful 5 years they can’t physique a protected motorcycle lane to screen 2 miles of heavy trafficked area?”
The Montgomery County Department of Transportation told CNN it precocious completed the archetypal signifier of 2 segments successful the web and much motorcycle lanes are either being designed oregon nether construction, adding “we are gathering them arsenic accelerated arsenic we can.”
The section is besides moving with the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration, which controls River Road, where Sarah was killed.
The road medication said Friday it is committed to the information of each road users but did not reply CNN’s circumstantial questions connected motorcycle way projects, including if determination are plans for operation connected River Road. On Saturday, the section added it has begun a “comprehensive needs analysis” for a agelong of the road which volition assistance place strategies to “address pedestrian and bicycle web needs, heighten safety, and amended question conditions.” In the meantime, officials are considering solutions including a velocity bounds simplification oregon motion upgrades successful that portion of the road, it noted.
The bureau last period announced it started operation connected different roadworthy successful North Bethesda, wherever an 18-year-old cyclist was killed successful June and a 17-year-old cyclist was killed successful 2019.
“These things could person been prevented,” Irwin said. “We person got to conscionable support educating radical astir the request for protected motorcycle lanes. You can’t conscionable overgarment the roadworthy and past expect cars to springiness america the abstraction that we need. It’s not safe.”
Langenkamp has said his fundraising effort volition besides assistance advocator for the state’s proscription section to make a safer motorcycle lane connected River Road, wherever Sarah was killed.
“Such motorcycle lanes – lacking due barriers, truck/auto operator education, laws, and instrumentality enforcement – are lone decease traps,” Langenkamp wrote connected his GoFundMe page.
The combat for alteration has fixed Langenkamp intent successful what different has been an unbearable 3 months. Adjusting to beingness arsenic a azygous begetter hasn’t been easy, helium said. Just a fewer days ago, his lad noted helium had nary cleanable pants for school, and Langenkamp realized helium hadn’t done laundry for a week. He often worries what holidays and Mother’s Day volition look similar for the children.
Sarah loved their 2 boys, helium said. Even amid a demanding occupation which took the household each astir the satellite – including to Baghdad, the Ivory Coast and Uganda – she was ever capable to crook disconnected enactment and absorption connected her family, Langenkamp said. While moving from Poland during Russia’s warfare connected Ukraine, Sarah flew to California for a play implicit the summertime to astonishment her oldest lad connected his birthday. She returned to Europe erstwhile the play was over. And successful the weeks earlier her instrumentality to the US, she wrote heartfelt postcards to her boys, sharing she couldn’t hold until they were reunited.
She was arsenic unthinkable astatine her job, her hubby said, adding, “She was everybody’s favourite colleague.”
The 2 met successful their Foreign Service predisposition people successful 2005 and were joined a twelvemonth later. “She had this quiescent confidence, and a precise down-to-earth, affable demeanor that conscionable truly made her casual to get on with,” Langenkamp said. “She was the benignant of brag that everybody loves. Just truly smart.”
And she was ne'er acrophobic to spell to the places wherever different diplomats were sometimes unwilling to go, telling her hubby it was “where we were needed.”
During their clip successful Ukraine, Sarah headed the US Embassy’s programs connected corruption and instrumentality enforcement and was liable for equipping and supplying its nationalist constabulary and borderline guard. And she was a “critical player” successful Ukraine’s defence efforts and helped Ukrainian constabulary and borderline defender forces person instrumentality similar helmets and assemblage armor aft the invasion, Langenkamp added. After her killing, letters of appreciation poured successful from US leaders including President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“She was our guiding light, really, and our motivation compass,” Langenkamp said. “It was her judgement that helped america done everything.”
Three months since her death, reminders of Sarah are everyplace astir the family’s Bethesda home, Langenkamp said.
There’s a country – a portion of the location Langenkamp refers to arsenic a “shrine” to his woman – wherever a candle remains lit by her urn, surrounded by pictures of the family, notes Sarah’s sons wrote to their ma aft her passing, jewelry she utilized to wear, cards from household and friends. Nearby, pictures of Sarah are taped close up to the ceiling. “We conscionable effort to person her around, everywhere,” her hubby said.
There’s besides a representation Sarah talented to her hubby astatine their wedding. It’s a representation of a motorcycle with the words, “Life is simply a beauteous ride. Dan and Sarah, est. 2006,” the twelvemonth of their wedding.
“Biking was a happening for us,” helium said. “It was a cardinal portion of our lives,” a mode of proscription which was “down-to-earth, steadfast and environmentally friendly,” Langenkamp added.
Wherever the mates recovered themselves, they tried to commute by motorcycle erstwhile possible, helium added. Choosing this combat for information since his wife’s decease was astir similar an “impulse,” Langenkamp said.
“If the slightest I tin bash to grant her, a idiosyncratic who had truthful overmuch imaginable successful her life. If we tin bash a small spot of bully arsenic a effect of this, I’ll person been consoled slightly,” helium said.
“It won’t bring her back,” Langenkamp added. “But astatine slightest it volition help, a small bit.”
English (US)