LETTER TO THE EDITOR

On October 30 our friend Kent Wosepka was killed by a car in your county.

Kent could have done all the biking he wanted around his home in

Massachusetts, but he chose to travel across the southern United States. His social media posts along the way showed his delight in meeting new people andseeing new places.

This was Kent’s comment on his Strava post the day before he was killed:

“So far, East Texas wins the prize for most-likely-to-kill-a-cyclist drivers. Constant defensive biking.” Most of you reading this are probably careful drivers; we assume you are all horrified by his death. But as we all struggle to come to terms with this loss, we respectfully ask you as a community to sit for a moment with Kent’s impression of your roads. An avid cyclist for over thirty years, Kent lived outside Boston, an area of the country not exactly known for good drivers, and yet he found the drivers in your area to be remarkably unsafe.

If you are reading this and have ever texted while driving, driven at speeds unsafe for the roads you are on, or felt (or worse, expressed) anger towardcyclists who legally share your roads, we ask you to think about Kent. You can google him to find out what kind of person he was, and what he meant to his community. You can read about the three kids he leaves behind. Because you didn’t get to meet him, you’ll have to take our word that he was one of the kindest, funniest, and most curious people we’ve ever known. His last act was one of generosity, donating his organs to save the lives of 8 other people. Please honor that generosity by working to ensure that this does not happen again.

John Staudenmaer and Kate Queeney Amherst, Massachusetts