Streets Are For Everyone

On October 17, 2023, a tragic collision on Pacific Coast Highway claimed the lives of four young women: Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir, and Deslyn Williams. These incredible young women, all students at Pepperdine University, were taken far too soon, leaving behind grieving families, friends, and a community forever changed.

To honor their memory, we are raising funds to create a permanent memorial at Point Dume in Malibu, a place that held deep meaning for Asha Weir and her friends.

This effort, initiated by Asha’s mother, Vinita Weir, and organized by Streets Are For Everyone and the Emily Shane Foundation, seeks to establish a space where people can reflect, remember, and find peace.

Point Dume was one of Asha’s favorite places, a sanctuary she captured beautifully in her poem, "For a Moment of Peace."

This memorial will feature two custom benches overlooking the stunning bluffs, beaches, and Pacific waters that brought solace to Asha and her friends. The benches will include plaques with a QR code linking to a digital memorial honoring Niamh, Peyton, Asha, and Deslyn, along with Asha’s poem, and serving as a poignant reminder about the importance of road safety—particularly on PCH.

Why This Memorial Matters

This tribute is not just a reflection of the love and light these young women brought into the world—it’s also a call for change. PCH, while breathtakingly scenic, is a perilous stretch of road.

By creating this memorial, we hope to inspire reflection and advocacy for safer roads, ensuring tragedies like this become a thing of the past.

How You Can Help

The cost to fabricate, install, and maintain the benches is $8,000 each ($16,000 total). Any additional funds raised will be donated to the Emily Shane Foundation and Streets Are For Everyone, two organizations dedicated to road safety and community empowerment.

Every contribution, no matter the size, brings us closer to creating this lasting tribute. Together, we can honor Niamh, Peyton, Asha, and Deslyn in a way that reflects their joy, kindness, and enduring legacy.

Join Us in This Effort

Once complete, we invite you to visit Point Dume and sit at the memorial, overlooking the breathtaking ocean and surrounding bluffs.

Let this space be a place of peace and remembrance, for those who knew and loved these four remarkable young women, and for anyone who comes seeking solace.

Thank you for your support in making this memorial a reality.

Please share this GoFundMe with others who might wish to join us in celebrating the lives of Niamh, Peyton, Asha, and Deslyn, and in supporting safer roads for all.

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For a Moment of Peace

By Asha Weir

A poem about Point Dume, Malibu, CA

One too many thoughts today

My mind is a crowded room

It is loud and overwhelming in here

Oh silence, won’t you visit soon?

But, when there’s too much going on

In my restless, racing mind

I tell myself what I tell others-

To yourself, you must be kind

Do not get angry

And do not question why

You cannot seem

To escape your mind.

Pick yourself up

And go to the place

Where the cool Pacific water

Washes your thoughts away.

Take a left and go down the path

Be careful, it is quite steep!

When you finally reach the bottom

Let the water kiss your feet.

You can stand or sit

Walk or run

But don’t forget to turn your face

Up towards the sun.

Close your eyes, slow your heart, and breath

You are here, you are okay

Allow your mind to rest, awhile

Relax and be free.

Free from anxiety

Free from stress

Throw your worries in the ocean

Let the water take your mess

Inhale the salty air

Feel your mind release

And if your thoughts return again someday

Go back to the water for a moment of peace

On November 1st, 2016, Jeff Knopp, loving husband, veteran, and father, was cycling on Foothill Boulevard when he was hit from behind and killed while riding a narrow stretch of road that had no bike lane. Shortly after he was killed, a section Foothill Blvd. was re-engineered to install a protected bike lane to protect other cyclists from a similar fate. 


Jeff left behind his children, a loving wife, Jennifer, and many friends. Streets Are For Everyone  (SAFE), along with Jeff's family, have the approval of the City of Los Angeles to put a Yellow Bike Memorial at the location where he was hit and killed.  We are raising funds for the cost of the memorial (mock-up of the memorial in the photo below) to be placed at the crash site to bring awareness of the need for safer streets and to watch for cyclists and pedestrians. 

 

 

Streets Are For Everyone , known as SAFE, is a local Los Angeles-based non-profit that aims to improve the quality of life for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike by working to reduce traffic-caused fatalities to Zero. 

 

The memorial is part of the Yellow Bike Project , a collaboration between experimental artist Scott Froschauer and SAFE. Each installation consists of a full-scale steel sculpture of a bicycle mounted on a 16' pole. The yellow color and shape of the bike sculpture are in reference to the official color of remembrance for those lost to traffic collisions. Beneath the bike sculpture is a sign with the rider's name and date of the crash with the #SafetyMatters.

 

The Yellow Bike Project is inspired by the Ghost Bike movement. The goal of the project is to create memorials for fallen cyclists that are more permanent in nature, are highly visible, and provide direct community education and awareness of the need for safer streets.

 

Help his widow Jennifer, his kids, and the community honor Jeff Knopp with a Yellow Bike Memorial. Please make a tax-deductible donation to SAFE today.