CAA Member, Christopher Dempsey organised a memorial ride last night in response to the terrible number of cycling fatalities and  to mark the one week anniversary of the death of Jane Bishop on Tamaki Drive. He invited CAA members to join him before returning to the last CAA meeting of the year.  Christopher said a few moving words to the group of about 20 rides once they reached crash site.  They also placed the flowers (that Barb Cuthbert had handed around to everyone before the ride) nearby.

As Christopher says

“I felt quite sad reaching the site. The ‘accident’ had been marked out so you could see where the car was, the truck was and some yellow lines where Bishop was. It was pretty awful to imagine. Then you turn around and you see this marvellous scenery – the gulf spread before you with Rangitoto in the distance. Such beauty, such senseless death. Jane Bishop died in a very beautiful location and I’d like to think that that scene was the last she saw before being involved in the accident… and the other awful thing is that she just wanted to go home. Go home, have a glass of wine, chat to flatmates, watch a bit of telly, have dinner, you know, normal things. She was just going home.”

Max Robitzsch, CAA committee member was also on the ride with “a good mix of people, some more sporty-looking folks and a lot of us casuals.

Ride out there itself went well and without a hitch, single file, some people on road and some on the path.

All in all, a nice memorial ride, lets hope the 5th Dec will be a huge event for the more public side of it all”.

CAA is involved with organising a rally for Cycle Safety on Sunday 5th Dec . An opportunity to focus on the future – knowing that Jane Bishop’s death should be the fuel that sparks forward momentum…

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