Invest In Safety, Not Speed: Join us in McKeesport on November 16th for a memorial and walk audit
Held annually on the third Sunday of November, the World Day of Remembrance is about remembering the fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways, supporting all people impacted, and acting in a way that helps to change and prevent future crashes from happening.
This year, World Day of Remembrance is on November 15th. On November 16th in McKeesport there will be a memorial and walk to remember victims of traffic violence in recent years, including Taylor Mehalcik who was struck and killed while biking in McKeesport last year, a wheelchair user who was critically injured while crossing Lysle Blvd in 2022, and McKeesport native Quanisha Lashay Ball who was struck and killed by a speeding driver in Atlanta, Georgia in 2022.
BikePGH is partnering with QCares Foundation to organize our area’s World Day of Remembrance event in McKeesport for the second year to support their work to keep Quanisha’s legacy alive and use her experience to help prevent future roadway injuries and deaths. QCares Foundation is a local non-profit founded in 2024 by Quanisha’s mother and McKeesport native Courtney Thompkins with a mission to support the families of traffic violence victims and empower communities to make their streets safer for all road users through education and advocacy.
This year we will continue calling for investment in traffic safety for communities that are often under-resourced and forgotten about. We will be holding our vigil and memorial walk along Lysle Blvd, which is both a critical route for people who walk, bus, and bike and a dangerous one with faded crossings, broken pedestrian signals, and high driving speeds.
The global WDoR movement started as a way to bring awareness about the scope of these crashes and to help nations shed light on their impact locally, nationally, and globally.
The theme this year is “Invest in Safety, Not Speed”, and the WDoR website describes it best: “Invest in Safety, Not Speed, is a call to action. We already know what works: smarter street design, safer speed limits, and proven technologies… Now, it’s time for decision makers to invest in these solutions.”
Traffic Crashes In Our Area
Allegheny County is no stranger to traffic crashes. Our area is home to some of the most dangerous intersections and streets in the state, especially for people who bike and walk. According to PennDOT Crash Facts & Statistics, from 2021 to 2025, Allegheny County reported 241 serious pedestrian injuries, and 78 pedestrian fatalities. We also know there were 7 bicyclist deaths due to roadway-related incidents across the County in that time.
In the City of Pittsburgh, pedestrians and cyclists suffer a disproportionate number of serious injuries and fatalities, with pedestrians and bicyclists accounting for about one-third of all traffic deaths. Over the same 5-year period within the City of Pittsburgh, traffic violence claimed the lives of 109 Pittsburghers, including 30 pedestrians and 5 bicyclists, and pedestrians were seriously injured in another 109 crashes (see the data here). There are likely many more crashes that result in serious injuries because many go unreported.
The official data doesn’t include 2026. This year we are aware of these pedestrians and bicyclists who were killed by drivers on our streets:
- An unidentified pedestrian killed on William Penn Highway in Wilkins Township
- Lawrence Soeder, pedestrian killed at Davis Ave & Massachusetts Ave in Brighton Heights
- Yiason Irvin-Weathers, 4-year-old pedestrian killed on Anaheim St in the Upper Hill
- Daniel Pappa, pedestrian killed at Bennett St & Oakwood in Homewood
- Michael Wade, 15-year-old pedestrian killed on McKnight Rd in Ross
- Patricia Woolheater, pedestrian killed at E 8th Ave & Dickson St in Munhall
And we expect there are more who were not reported on.
No matter how many tools are out there and analysis done, it doesn’t bring back a life that is lost, nor the toll that each death has on a community. It is important that we use this World Day of Remembrance to call on us to pay attention to this public health crisis that roadways bring to a community.
What you can do in Pittsburgh to make our streets safer
Get involved locally.
- QCares Foundation holds regular community events and supports victims’ families, and you can contribute to them here.
- BikePGH helps local bike and pedestrian neighborhood groups work on making their streets safer for people who are biking and walking. These groups learn how to organize and advocate for their communities. Email advocacy@bikepgh.org to get connected with your local group, and sign up for our Outspoken Newsletter to get the latest advocacy opportunities in your inbox each month!
Learn about policies and laws that can improve roadways. Many traffic engineers, designers, advocates, and policy makers believe that well designed streets can encourage safer driving behavior. Unfortunately, there are a lot of policies out there that dictate what engineers, planners and local government agencies can legally design for a street. Learning more about advantageous policies that give flexibility and tools to the designers, engineers, planners, and government to fund projects can help give more control to those who want to improve and update outdated policies and design guidelines. Advocating and encouraging things like Complete Street Policies and Vision Zero Policies in your area is one place to get started.
Join the movement! Starting local and getting involved are two great places to get started. Reaching out to organizations like BikePGH and QCares Foundation and getting involved with our work is another way to get involved. We’ll be happy to put you in touch with other organizations who are doing similar work in the City and of the greater Pittsburgh area.
Call to Action: Walk with us on Monday, November 16th
Although the World Day of Remembrance is officially on Sunday, November 15th, we will be observing it on Monday, November 16th with a memorial and walk audit of Lysle Blvd in McKeesport during rush hour that morning.
We will gather at 8:30am to remember people who were killed while walking or biking in McKeesport and beyond. Then, we will go for a walk along Lysle Blvd to observe how the current design of the street creates an unsafe environment for people walking and biking to appointments at UPMC McKeesport Hospital, grocery stores, and the bus stops. We will conclude with a brief discussion of what can be done to improve those conditions and ensure nobody is seriously injured or killed by traffic crashes.
Event Details:
Date: Monday, November 16, 2026
Time: 8:30am – 9:45am
Location: Eat’n Park Parking Lot (near Coursin St Bridge), 805 Lysle Blvd, McKeesport
RSVP: bit.ly/wdor-pgh or email advocacy@bikepgh.org to let us know you’ll be there and get more information.
This event will happen rain or shine, and the walk will be about a half mile round trip along Lysle Blvd from Coursin St to Evans Ave and back. Parts of the route have broken sidewalks and missing curb ramps. Let us know if you use a mobility device and we’ll plan for it.
NEWSLETTER