Tragic Motorcycle Crash Spurs Touching Safety Campaign
After one Iowa family lost a daughter and mother to a senseless motorcycle accident, they’re using her image to help save lives.
As you likely already know, May is Motorcycle Awareness Month. It’s a time when the weather is turning fair and most folks are getting their Harleys back on the road. So we also want to remind everyone else to simply be aware of their surroundings. Far too many motorcycle accidents occur because people in cars don’t see us, after all. And Cedar Rapids, Iowa residents Casey and Ronda Ruenger are using their own personal tragedy to help prevent others from suffering the same consequences.
Back in 2014, the Ruengers sadly lost their daughter Sherrena Ruenger-Wullner after a car turning into a parking lot hit her and her motorcycle. “Her motorcycle struck the front of his SUV and so she landed actually right here in front of us,” Ronda Ruenger recalled to KWWL News. ““At the time of the accident all four of his wheels were in her lane in the eastbound lane and she hit head-on. And his words were ‘I thought I had more time’,” added her father Casey.
As if losing a daughter wasn’t enough of a tragedy, Ruenger-Wullner, an experienced rider and motocross vet, left behind two young daughters of her own. But instead of simply trying to cope with such a tragic loss, the family is taking action. They’ve commissioned billboards throughout Cedar Rapids and Cedar Falls reading, “May is motorcycle awareness month. Look Twice.” The signs bear Ruenger-Wullner’s image as a sobering reminder of the alternative.
Attaching a face to this ever-important message helps humanize it, sad as it might be. But if these billboards help save just one life, one mother, one family member, it’s most certainly worth it.
Photos: Facebook
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