3/9/08 Kristy Gough and Matt Peterson are struck and tragically killed when cycling by an on-duty sheriff's deputy in a patrol car.

3/22/08 San Francisco Chronicle front page article on cyclists responsibility in accidents, the Honor the Stop armband, and statistics of accidents.

5/21/08 Woodside, CA - Town of Woodside Bicycle Committee votes to authorize the purchase of 5000 Honor the Stop wristbands. Town Council to vote at meeting on 5/27/08.

5/23/08 Honor the Stop web site is launched.

5/26/08 First pre-production wrist band arriving on 5/30/08. A high-quality black and red band with embossed www.honorthestop.org on each side.

5/27/08 Woodside, CA - Motion passed unanimously adopting a resolution supporting Honor the Stop and authorizing the purchase of 5000 wrist bands by Town of Woodside. The Town of Woodside is the first official registered supporter of Honor the Stop. The campaign is set to begin in July with assistance from the Woodside Bicycle Committee and Susan George,Town Manager.

7/7/08 Honor the Stop wristbands are now available in quantities of 100 with pledge cards.

7/8/08 Millo Fenzi, the Town of Woodside Bicycle committee chairman, is coordinating with Marc Evans and the The Tour For Woodside (9/21/08) to supply wristbands and pledge cards for all bicyclists to join Honor the Stop. The Town of Woodside is donating 1200 wristbands.

7/10/08 California Highway Patrol, Caltrans, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, the Menlo Park Police Department, and the San Mateo County Department of Public Works are coordinating a county-wide Honor the Stop campaign with Marc Evans.

8/10/08 New York Times article by Jan Hoffman writes in, "Moving Targets" about "driver-rider hostility" and the vitriolic interchanges between automobile drivers and bicyclists. Marc Evans and Woodside, Ca Town Manager Susan George discuss the Honor the Stop campaign.

9/1/08 San Francisco, CA. A growing number of orders for wristbands are distributed to varying groups and individuals across the USA following the NY Times article.

9/21/08 Woodside, CA – 1300 Honor the Stop silicone wrist bracelets and pledge cards are distributed to bicyclists at the Tour For Woodside, motorcyclists, and to motorists and pedestrians. The CHP, San Mateo County Sheriff, and City of Menlo Park Police assist in the effort. A long-term community outreach and enforcement plan are being considered:

Field Education Outreach
• Calendar continuing HTS at known stop sign violation sites in Woodside
• Calendar continuing HTS at high fatality roadway sights
o Set up placards and hand out wristbands

Field Enforcement
• Calendar continuing HTS enforcement days at now violation sights following Field Education Outreach sessions (perhaps, the following week)
o Strictly enforcing and ticketing violators. Or, using the HTS wristbands to issue warnings.

HTS Youth Education
• Implemented an ongoing school pledge program (officers make classroom visits)

Honor The Stop (roadway signs)
• Install HTS permanent roadway signs at strategic locations

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:10E-mail | PrintSAN MATEO CO.: CAMPAIGN STEMMING FROM FATAL BICYCLIST CRASH NETS 45 CITATIONS

An Honor the Stop enforcement campaign that was inspired by the deaths of two bicyclists killed by a sheriff's deputy in 2008 was carried out today and netted 45 citations in San Mateo County.

Endurance coach Marc Evans started the campaign after one of his former trainees, Kristy Gough, 30, was fatally struck along with Matt Peterson, 29, by a Santa Clara County sheriff's patrol car driven by Deputy James Council in March 2008.

Evans said before he rode in a memorial bike ride with thousands of people, he went to his garage, spray-painted a two-toned bracelet black, for those killed or injured on the road, and red, to represent the wearer's commitment to obey stop signs, and started promoting road rules.

He placed the bracelet on her memorial after the ride.

Local law enforcement such as the California Highway Patrol, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and Redwood City police took over the idea, bought thousands of bracelets and got the ball rolling further with the campaign.

Today's enforcement came after a month long warning for motorists and bicyclists in Woodside and Portola Valley, San Mateo sheriff's risk Manager Tom Merson said.

For the past month, bicyclists and motorists on their cell phones, not wearing seatbelts and not stopping at streetlights or stop signs were warned and given pamphlets on the rules of the road.

On Friday, patrol handed out 48 citations such offenses in another operation.

Merson said more than 25 crashes have occurred in Woodside since February, but did not all involve bicycles.

Evans has been somewhat removed from the campaign since law enforcement has taken initiative. He said he didn't know about today's patrol but he was glad to be a part of it.

"We've made an impact and I really appreciate how far it's gone,'' he said. "Long term, it's going to save some lives.''

The patrol enforcement came on the same day Santa Clara County agreed to pay $2.3 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Peterson's parents against the county.

Council pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor accounts of vehicular manslaughter in Santa Clara County Superior Court and reached a settlement with the district attorney's office in a pre-trial conference in May.

Council's patrol car crossed a double-yellow line on Stevens Canyon Road in Cupertino and struck and killed Peterson and Gough on March 9, 2008. A third cyclist was injured.