Laura Fredricks’ daughter, Emily Claire Fredricks, was killed In Philadelphia on November 28, 2017, by the driver of a private sanitation truck. Emily was cycling to work as a French pastry chef, and was killed at the corner of Spruce and 11th Streets, as the driver made a right hook into her. He was not held accountable for killing Emily. Emily was the sunshine of Laura and Rich’s lives, as well as their two sons, Michael and Jack. She was 24 years old when she was killed and had her whole life ahead of her. Their family will never be the same. Laura and Rich are involved in the advocacy for safe streets because they do not want this tragedy and trauma to affect any other family. 

Laura is a co-founder of Families for Safe Streets Greater Philadelphia and Families for Safe Streets Massachusetts, where she now lives. Laura and Rich have a foundation for Emily which gives scholarships and athletic awards, and also supports many safe streets organizations. They have also started a fund for bike and ped safety in the Outer Banks in Emily’s memory (www.obcf.org). Laura and Rich also advocate with the Truck Safety Coalition, Institute for Safer Trucking and Keep Kids Alive Drive 25. 

“Every day I think I’m going to wake from this nightmare, and she is going to walk through the door.”