(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of bicycle riders will gather early this evening in downtown Des Moines for what’s billed as the Ride of Silence. Bike Iowa founder Scott Sumpter says the somber event is designed to raise awareness about the cyclists who have been killed or injured on Iowa’s public roadways in the past year. Sumpter says they’ll emphasize the need for greater awareness and respect for cyclists.

“We spend a little time talking about bike safety and then we call out the names of those who have been hit or killed,” Sumpter says. “For every person that has been hit, we have somebody sit down, and for every person that’s been killed, we get somebody to lay down, so it gives a really good visual representation on how many cyclists have been involved in crashes over the course of the last year.”

Cyclists sitting represent those who were injured, while those laying down represent those who’ve died.

This is the 20th annual ride in Des Moines, and the ride itself will be deliberately slow-moving through the capitol city’s streets, according to Sumpter, almost like a funeral procession.

“We take a ride through town and it’s just a really slow pace with lights on,” Sumpter says. “It’s more or less for awareness for the public, awareness for law enforcement, and just showing that cyclists have legal rights to the road just as motorists do.”

Six cyclists were killed by vehicles in Iowa during the past year, along with 353 injured, though Sumpter says the actual number of injuries may be three times higher than that, as police reports aren’t always filed.

“The numbers in the last four or five years have remained about static, about 350 over the course of a 12-month period,” Sumpter says. “Fatalities go up and down. I’ve seen it as high as 10 or 12 and then a couple of years we’ve had like one or two, and this year, we happened to have six.”

Images from last year’s Ride of Silence courtesy of Bike Iowa

All are welcome at the ride. Participants will gather at the southwest corner of the State Historical Museum of Iowa at 6:30 PM for the presentations, with the ride starting at 7. Other Iowa Ride of Silence events will occur in Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids and Sergeant Bluff. Rides of Silence are also being held in more than 200 cities across the U.S. and in at least 15 other countries.