Thank you so much to everyone who attended the vigil honoring the life of Louisa Gag last week, coming together to remember, to mourn, and to share our collective grief and anger. We heard from her friends and colleagues about the monumental impact she had on their lives and in our community. And as we know all too well, Louisa was one of many; over 350 people were killed on Massachusetts streets in 2025. That’s 350 families and communities whose lives were forever changed in one moment.

Thank you also to the 4,000 of you that signed the petition calling on Mayor Wu and the city of Boston to honor Louisa’s legacy by re-prioritizing street safety after 500+ days of inaction and removing physical protection from existing street safety projects.

Here is how you can take action right now:

• Email the city council (city.council@boston.gov) and cc info@bostoncyclistsunion.org.
  Ask that they:
  • Introduce a Safe Streets Ordinance based on the ordinances that Cambridge and Somerville have successfully used to proactively implement street safety improvements.
  • Support Councilors Pepen and Breadon’s ordinance which will be filed at the upcoming Council Meeting on Monday. The ordinance will require an annual report on the status of projects across the city related to the improvement of streets, mobility, safety, and transportation.
    
• Email Mayor Wu (mayor@boston.gov) and cc info@bostoncyclistsunion.org. Commend her for the initial steps she outlined last night, including a street design response team for serious crashes to design improvements, and demanding going even further with BOLD actions:
  • Fully upgrading all streets that had protection removed over the past year to Better Buffers
  • Restarting the Safety Surge program, including installing speed humps at a higher cadence than before
  • Un-pausing all street safety projects
  • Recommitting to her promise of 50% of Boston being within 3 minutes of a protected bike lane
  • Identifying and urgently developing safety projects on the most dangerous streets and intersections.
  • Urge her to present her full plan with trackable milestones within the next 30 days.
    
• Email your state representatives (https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator) and cc bikeinfo@massbike.org. Ask them to pass Safety Camera enforcement legislation (S.2344, H.3754]) and introduce new legislation that furthers Vision Zero through mandating proven safety solutions.
  
• Attend public meetings when projects near you happen and give positive support to our hard-working city staff that are doing their best to enact safety improvements.
  
• Volunteer and support Vision Zero Coalition organizations to help advocate for safer streets.
  • If you’re moved to donate financially, Louisa’s family has asked that donations go to LivableStreets. You can do so here: https://www.livablestreets.info/louisa_gag
    
• Visibility of Cyclists in Mainstream, Social Media, and Personal Networks as street safety is currently making headlines in the wake of this tragedy, it’s important that people hear directly from cyclists and pedestrians who can share the personal impact of this loss and the threats we encounter daily as we try to navigate Boston streets dominated by unsafe infrastructure and risky driving.
  • Share articles that you feel are informative and raise awareness on safe streets issues
  • Write letters to the editor when you see irresponsible, misleading, or anti-Vision Zero arguments to let them know that human life must be the priority, not victim blaming or “both sides” arguments. Demand facts and respect from our news outlets.
  • Send letters to independent and local publications with your point of view as a cyclist to help raise awareness in your community.
  • Talk to your neighbors and hear what’s on their minds. Not everyone bikes but we all have concerns about street safety. These conversations will be the way we shift public opinion from being about “bike lanes” to creating a city where we can all Arrive Alive. Encourage them to share their thoughts directly with the mayor on the BCU action page: https://bcu.bike/act

The Boston Cyclists Union is part of the statewide Vision Zero Coalition of safe streets organizations pushing for the following:

• A statewide recommitment to Vision Zero and a Safe Systems approach to traffic safety by municipalities and state agencies across Massachusetts;
• Faster and more efficient implementation of street-safety improvements in Boston and Vision Zero communities across the Commonwealth; and
• Stronger truck-safety requirements, including expanded mandates for proven safety features such as convex mirrors, backup cameras and side guards at both the municipal and state levels.

Thank you for any and all actions you take, including gathering with your community to support each other. Together, we can and will make change.