If something good can come from an awful tragedy, Dirk and Terry Debbink are determined to make it happen.
Their daughter Sarah Debbink Langenkamp — a devoted mother and diplomat — was hit and killed while riding her bike in Maryland in 2022. Now Sarah's name is synonymous with a bill moving through Congress to make biking safer across America.
It's hard to imagine Sarah not on a bike. She was an avid cyclist from her childhood days in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, through her career as a diplomat traveling the world and as a wife and working mother.
"She was an incredible diplomat," Dirk Debbink said.
Watch: Parents turn daughter's tragic death into push for safer biking infrastructure
Her parents always worried when work would take Sarah to countries facing political turmoil. So when Sarah and her husband safely returned stateside in the summer of 2022 after serving in Ukraine and Poland — and another son in the Navy was back home from deployment — they felt relief.
"We said to each other, everybody's back home safe right now. Two days later, Sarah was killed," Terry Debbink said.
Sarah was hit by a truck while riding in a bike lane on a busy road heading to her Maryland home after visiting her kids at school. The crash happened on a busy 200-yard stretch of road she had to navigate to reach a safer, designated bike path.
"She was crushed, literally crushed," Dirk Debbink said.
Through their pain, tragedy turned into a plan of action.
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"The credit goes to Dan, our son-in-law, her husband, because Dan realized that sooner than the rest of us did, that we have to do something about this," Dirk Debbink said.
That's how the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act was born. The goal is simple — to save lives by closing dangerous gaps between safe bike routes.
"It helps to turn our grief into something positive," Terry Debbink said.
"What this bill will do — first of all it prioritizes using safety data," Dirk Debbink said.
Not far from Dirk's Oconomowoc home is a busy bypass at a controlled intersection. There's a bike trail on both sides connecting a school and residential neighborhood, but cyclists must cross dangerous gaps.
"You would call this a gap between a safe trail here and a safe trail there — but to get from one to the other and that's where people like Sarah are being killed, that's where people are being injured all across America," Dirk Debbink said.
Closing these gaps is expensive. Oconomowoc spent $2.3 million, thanks to a federal grant, for a safe bike and pedestrian tunnel under 8 lanes on Highway 67.
Dirk says Sarah's bill would help communities identify and fund these projects that improve transportation for everyone.
"It's not an alternative method of transportation for people like me and you and Sarah — this is a primary method of transportation and Oconomowoc is showing that," Dirk Debbink said.
But there's one hill left to climb — Capitol Hill. Dirk has been lobbying Wisconsin's delegation to help get the bill passed, and he has someone helping him when he needs it most.
"She walks every step with me when I'm there. It's pretty cool, actually. I guess you have to believe and we do," Dirk Debbink said.
Sarah's family is hoping others will believe in their cause by calling their congressperson and senators to pass the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act this year.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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