It Could Be Me is a nonprofit organization founded by Triny Willerton, a survivor of a near-fatal crash caused by a careless driver. Established in 2019, the organization focuses on promoting education and advocacy for cycling and pedestrian safety. As part of our exploration of road safety issues, we interviewed Triny Willerton to gain insights into her motivations for creating It Could Be Me and to discuss additional measures that can be taken to enhance road safety in America.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
A: My name is Triny Willerton and I am a crash survivor and that's how everything got started. If you would have told me 10 years ago that I was going to be doing what I'm doing and basically devoting every breathing moment that I have that I'm not with my family to road advocacy and safety, I would not have believed you.
Q: What is the mission of It Could Be Me?
A: It Could Be Me is an organization that's trying to change the narrative between road users and what people deem to call vulnerable road users - so everybody outside of a car and people in cars.
We are basically crash survivors. There's some people that have lost family members, but in the main we are crash survivors.
Through the evolution of It Could Be Me, we have become a source of training and just education not only for the public, but also for the survivors so when they feel that they're ready to share their stories, they can do so with conviction and they can do so with confidence.
We offer multiple workshops and basically we are trying to get an army of storytellers to help change the narrative. And this can look like someone testifying before Congress, and it can look like someone just sharing their story on social media or at any level.
Q: What inspired you to start It Could Be Me?
A: During one of my training sessions - I was hoping to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Boulder, Colorado where I live - I was on the Ironman Boulder bike course and a careless, I would assume distracted driver hit me as I was riding my bike.
I survived a crash that with all of the information that I have gathered in these years and just the statistics and the more I learn, I should not have survived it.
I got hit by this vehicle and this man driving over 50 miles an hour. The vehicle was an F-150 and I was only wearing my helmet and I had my bike to protect me.
It was a very fortunate coincidence that Bicycle Colorado was working on a piece of legislation for vulnerable user road safety and they invited me to testify. I had never testified. I had never been involved in any way in advocacy. I was absolutely terrified. I almost didn't go, but I went and that whole entire experience and that whole journey - from when I testified the first time, second time and just rallying for that bill and I eventually got to speak with the governor - it was just really a life changing experience for me where I realized that our individual voices are incredibly powerful.
There was a great opportunity for education and for getting all these people that wanted to do something to change the narrative to get involved. And that's when I started It Could Be Me.
Q: Does It Could Be Me focus on advocacy at the local or national level?
A: We've always been a national organization. Most of our board members are based in Colorado, but we do have board members all over the country. Our mission has always been to create coalitions with other national organizations. So from the very, very start I've been working with The Vision Zero Network, with Families for Safe Streets, with Road to Zero, with the National Safety Council, and with NHTSA. I can't stress how valuable these coalitions are. And how together we will create this change.
Q: What must be done to eliminate traffic fatalities and increase road safety awareness?
A: Infrastructure is crucial. So we need to change how we share the road space. That is definitely an opportunity for fatalities to be reduced - I mean 100%.
Another thing that I'm very proud that we just passed in Colorado is automated traffic enforcement. I think there's multiple studies that prove that just by a mere sign, not even a camera, just signage advising drivers that there's a camera up ahead, people reduce their speeds.
And that takes me to the reduction of speeds. People really need to change the way they think about how we get from one point to another point. But the fact that we all need to get there safely and that speed reduction is crucial for that. And yet if the road is not dictating your speed, it's very difficult for me to see that just because you change a number on a sign that that's going to make a difference.
Q: How can people get involved with road safety advocacy in their communities?
A: There's multiple ways and I think one of my eye-opening moments in the very, very start was I made it an assignment for myself to find an advocacy organization in every state and I found not one but multiple. Depending on what you were passionate about, so if you're a cyclist there will be like a Bicycle Colorado, there will be multiple places that are already working very, very hard on these issues and that need you.
So if you can connect with your local advocacy group, I think that's the first step. And once you learn a little bit more, then you can expand and really utilize your skills taking that a step further.
One thing that I have found to be incredibly compelling is storytelling. That's why we offer all these free workshops and we try to provide services for people so they can feel more confident and they will want to share their stories when the time comes.
Because people can really connect with understanding that this is something that's really close to everyone. It's not just a number on a piece of paper. We're not numbers, we're all people.
Learn more about It Could Be Me: https://www.itcouldbeme.org/