As scooters whirred past on Saturday, Maria Coady thought of her son.
When she couldn’t find a helmet in the bunch, the UF education associate professor wanted to scream.
It has almost been a year since her son Thomas was killed when his motorcycle crashed into a pick-up truck.
Although her son was wearing a helmet when he died, Coady helped organize a rally before the football game against Florida Atlantic University on Saturday to promote safe scooter usage. As fans walked to the Swamp for the football game, they were met by volunteers handing out hundreds of reflective armbands, neon-green T-shirts and metal buttons.
"We’re trying to prevent deaths, really," Coady said. "We’re doing whatever we can."
The scooter and motorcycle safety event was hosted by Ride Smart Florida, a group funded by the Florida Department of Transportation.
For Hali McKinley Lester, a scooter ride resulted in a skull fracture.
As the scooter collided with a car on Northwest 34th Street last February, McKinley Lester wasn’t wearing a helmet. She wound up at UF Health Shands Hospital.
"To me, it’s just not worth it," she said.
Nearly a year through an 18-month recovery, the UF international studies and history sophomore came to the event to support the rally.
McKinley Lester said even after her friends heard about the accident, most continued to ride without a helmet. She said the only way to reach students is to normalize the act of wearing helmets.
"To me, it’s gonna take a requirement. It’s gonna take laws," she said.
UF President Kent Fuchs said the only way to improve scooter safety is for students and faculty to hold each other accountable.
"It is really about each of us developing good habits and encouraging our friends to do the same," he said.
The rally is one of several ways Coady wants to change campus culture about scooter safety.
She debuted a nine-minute public service announcement video on Thursday, one she hopes to show at Preview.
The video tells the stories of Thomas and two others like him, all victims of motorized accidents.
Coady also hopes to create a mandatory online course for students who ride scooters or motorcycles.
For her, it’s about protecting the lives of students like her son and shielding their parents from heartbreak.
She also plans to work with the Florida Legislature to simplify helmet laws and make it easier for police to pull over underage scooter drivers who aren’t wearing headgear.
Currently, riding without a helmet, even for those under 18 years old, does not warrant an officer stopping someone.
Coady thinks it should. It’s just a matter of time before more students get hurt, she said.
"We can’t wait anymore," she said.
Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo
