Cyclists Demand Safer Roads:
‘We closed the Diagonal and filled it with cyclists. I think we did something special.’
By Por Jaijongkit, Boulder Reporting Lab — BOULDER, Colorado (August 11, 2024) — More than four thousand cyclists and advocates for safer roads from across the world gathered Sunday, August 11, at Colorado University – Boulder to honor the life and legacy of young cycling champion Magnus White. Tragically, White was killed at age 17 by a driver during a training ride on the Diagonal Highway, just before the UCI World Cycling Championships. The driver was most likely asleep at the wheel at the time she struck and killed White, according to the arrest affidavit.
Cyclists took to the street together for the Ride for Magnus: Ride for Your Life event, following a path along the car-free Diagonal Highway past the site where White was killed one year ago.
The ride ended at Farrand Field on the CU campus for a rally led by White’s parents, elected officials and others to demand safer roads for cyclists and pedestrians. According to Daniel Langenkamp, a U.S. State Department diplomat who started the Ride for Your Life movement after his wife was killed by a driver, 3,000 cyclists and 200 walkers from 50 states and 20 countries signed up to participate, and more virtually, making the event one of the largest advocacy rides in the nation.
The crowd spread out on Farrand Field as Michael and Jill White spoke about their son’s life that ended too soon.
“We did not lose Magnus; his life was stolen,” Michael White told the crowd while holding the sunglasses Magnus wore on the fateful training ride. Michael described Magnus in the ER, dirt still stuck to his face, blood from his skull fractures, and his head being so swollen that his father almost couldn’t recognize him.
“Sanitizing what really happens to those in road violence death only contributes to it happening again and again.”
“Magnus shouldn’t have died. His bright future was cut short by preventable tragedy,” Jill White said. “And that’s why we’re here today: not just to remember but to ask. We know what killed Magnus, and we know the solutions.”
Michael White outlined three major changes they are seeking at the local, state and federal levels. He urged fast-tracking bike infrastructure in the region, starting with the North Foothills Bikeway project connecting Boulder to Lyons along U.S. 36. He also advocated for increasing penalties for vehicular homicide and requiring automatic emergency braking (AEB) sensitive to cyclists in all U.S. vehicles to prevent collisions. These proposals were met with raucous applause at the rally.
At the start and end of Jill and Michael’s speeches, the crowd rose from the grass to deliver standing ovations.
Gov. Jared Polis also spoke at the rally, promising investments in and improvements to road safety for cyclists and pedestrians. “As we continue to keep people safe, we want to do so by proudly honoring Magnus’ legacy so that fewer families and fewer communities ever have to suffer the unthinkable tragedy that the White family has endured that the entire community has endured,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, who lives in Lafayette, said that federal legislation will be in memory of Magnus and other cyclists and pedestrians in Colorado who have lost their lives in traffic crashes.
“To Michael and to Jill, I will simply say that we hear you, and that I hear you and that we look forward to introducing legislation to make automatic braking technology for bicyclists and motorcyclists a reality in the United States,” Neguse said. “You have my commitment that we will do that.”
Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett, alongside Boulder City Councilmembers Tara Winer, Tina Marquis and Ryan Schuchard, participated in the ride.
“Let’s ride for the future where we never need a ride like this again,” Brockett said to the crowd before the cyclists took off.
Other speakers at the ride included Bicycle Colorado Executive Director Pete Piccolo, CU Boulder’s new chancellor, Justin Schwartz, triathlete and clinical psychologist Gina LaFrazza, and Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty.
As the ride neared, cyclists lined up around the block, creating a sea of colors marked by splashes of neon yellow and pink to ensure they stood out on the road. The ride began with the clamor of bicycle bells as the riders moved in unison onto the streets.
Ride for Magnus is the fifth Ride for Your Life event. Langenkamp organized the first in 2022, after his wife, Sarah, was crushed by a truck riding home from their son’s elementary school in Bethesda, Maryland. The couple had been evacuated from Ukraine for their safety.
“Only to see her get killed on one of America’s roads,” Langenkamp told Boulder Reporting Lab. “To me, it was indicative that we need to do a lot of work to make our roads safer.” He began working with Michael and Jill White to organize Ride for Magnus in March 2024.
Vehicular homicide by reckless driving is considered a class 4 felony, carrying a sentence of two to six years in prison and/or a fine ranging from $2,000 to $500,000.
“So that sends a message, that if you want to kill someone, do it in a car. You’ll get away with it,” Langenkamp said.
Amadeo Claudia met Magnus during their freshman year of high school, and the two became fast friends. Magnus’ death completely changed how Claudia viewed drivers and cyclists and the uneven power between the two. “I felt invincible before, but I never was. Only recently do I understand how vulnerable I was.”
Claudia described feeling upset earlier in the day, but seeing the strong support for the ride helped lift his spirits.
“We closed the Diagonal and filled it with cyclists,” he said. “I think we did something special.”
According to county data, Highway 119, known as the Diagonal, between Boulder and Longmont, has the second-highest number of bike crashes in unincorporated Boulder County, trailing only U.S. 36 between Boulder and Lyons. The combination of high-speed vehicle traffic at 55 miles per hour and an unprotected shoulder creates a dangerous environment for cyclists. Although the county is planning a 12-foot-wide concrete bike path down the center of Highway 119, its completion is still years away. A project update webinar will be held on Zoom on Tuesday, August 13, and the county’s survey for public input on the path overpass’s visual design is open until August 15.
Just months after Magnus White’s death, Michael and Jill White started the nonprofit The White Line with the help of a GoFundMe campaign. “We decided to open ourselves up to grief; that’s how the White Line started,” Michael told Boulder Reporting Lab.
The organization aims to honor Magnus’ legacy by supporting cyclists worldwide and advocating for cycling-safe infrastructure through advertising campaigns and policy advocacy. The group encourages more children to take up cycling and participate in racing. It also produces the “Lives Worth Remembering” film series to honor fallen riders and their contributions to their communities. Michael said that the friends and families of fallen cyclists and pedestrians “wanted justice and accountability.”
“We’re not advocates or lobbyists,” he said. “We’re parents who have lost our son. We want to be a new voice for change.”
Last December, after nearly five months of investigation by the Colorado State Patrol, the driver who killed White was charged with the felony of vehicular homicide. The driver, 23-year-old Yeva Smilianska, had been in Colorado for a year after fleeing Ukraine at the time of the crash. Smilianska has pleaded not guilty, and a jury trial is scheduled for December 2024.
Article republished with permission from Boulder Reporting Lab (boulderreportinglab.org), a nonprofit news organization serving Boulder, Colorado.
Por Jaijongkit is a 2024 Summer Community Reporting Fellow for Boulder Reporting Lab. She recently graduated from CU Boulder with a master’s degree in journalism and is interested in writing about the environment and exploring local stories.
