Sometimes it’s better to let the pictures tell the story.
So here are a few images and random thoughts from the start of Sunday’s Finish the Ride.
Despite the early morning start, hundreds of people turned out in Hollywood to join the fight against the epidemic of hit-and-run.
People of every description came together to ride, roll, walk or run; two LAPD officers even ran the 10k route in full uniform.
State Assemblymember Richard Bloom: “You have a right to feel safe on the road.”
Nice to see new LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds and Executive Officer Bruce Gillman front row center, a sign that the city is finally taking hit-and-run seriously.
Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell: “Damien, you’re changing the world.”
Councilmembers Joe Buscaino and Mitch Englander worked together to pass a standing reward program for hit-and-runs, saying hit-and-run “is a huge moral problem.”
LADOT GM Seleta Reynolds: “We should not accept hit-and-run as a natural consequence of just trying to get around.”
Surrounded by a sea of bikes, two women waited for their chance to skate the route.
Not all the participants were human. Even a dog knows leaving someone lying injured and bleeding in the street — or worse — is inhuman.
The ride marshals gathered before the start to discuss the routes and how to keep the participants safe on streets that were shared with cars.
Finish the Ride founder Damian Kevitt joins the assembled riders for the start of the 50-mile ride; it was only two years ago that he lost his leg in a horrific hit-and-run.
Kevitt sets off to lead the ride, just as he has lead the fight against hit-and-run since recovering from his life-threatening injuries; the driver who fled the scene after dragging him onto a freeway onramp has never been found.
