Ghost bike explained

A ghost bike (also referred to as a ghostcycle or WhiteCycle) is a bicycle roadside memorial, placed where a cyclist has been killed or severely injured, usually by the driver of a motor vehicle.

Apart from being a memorial, it is usually intended as a reminder to passing motorists to share the road. Ghost bikes are usually junk bicycles painted white, sometimes with a placard attached, and locked to a suitable object close to the scene of the accident.

History

The idea of painting bikes white originated in Amsterdam in the 1960s as an anarchist project and tactical urbanism to liberate two-wheel transport—white bikes were free, help yourself and then leave it for someone else.[1]

The ghost bike idea in the United States may have originated with a project by San Francisco artist Jo Slota, begun in April 2002. This was a purely artistic endeavor.[2] Slota was intrigued by the abandoned bicycles that he found around the city, locked up but stripped of useful parts. He began painting them white, and posted photographs on his website, ghostbike.net.[3] San Francisco is one of the safer U.S. cities for bicyclists, but memorial ghost bikes sprang up there as elsewhere, changing perceptions of his project.

A ghost bike memorial project was started in St. Louis, Missouri, in October 2003.[4] After observing a motorist strike a bicyclist in a bike lane on Holly Hills Boulevard, Patrick Van Der Tuin placed a white-painted bicycle on the spot with a hand-painted sign reading "Cyclist Struck Here". Noticing the effect that this had on motorists in the area, Van Der Tuin then enlisted the help of friends to place 15 more "ghost bikes" in prominent spots in the St. Louis area where cyclists had recently been hit by automobiles.[5] They used damaged bikes, in some cases deliberately damaged to create the desired mangled effect.[6]

Similar projects began in Pittsburgh in 2004,[7] New York City,[8] Seattle in 2005,[9] Albuquerque,[10] and Toronto in 2006.[11] In August 2005, nearly 40 ghost bikes were placed throughout Seattle to draw awareness to locations of crashes, near-misses, and poor road conditions.[9] A ghost bike in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C., commemorating a rider killed by a garbage truck in 2008, remained for a full year. When it was removed by city employees, friends of the rider replaced it with 22 ghost bikes, one on every lamppost.[12] London Ghostcycle was active in 2005 and 2006.[13] There have been similar projects in dozens of other cities worldwide. A bike memorial project[14] was started in Durham, North Carolina, in 2013 to commemorate the death of two prominent cyclist[15] and bicycle safety advocates.[16]

In late 2013 and early 2014, the Houston Ghost Bike Group has placed 47 ghost bikes to raise awareness during an especially deadly string of traffic violence involving automobiles taking place in Houston, many of them hit and run. Later in 2014 they were working on 13 more bikes to bring the list of deaths in recent years up to date.[17] [18]

As of 2017 there where over 630 ghost bikes that have since appeared in over 210 locations throughout the world.[19] No single entity governs the installation of all ghost bikes, and they are sometimes removed by those who dislike the practice.[20]

See also

External links

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Furness, Zack . One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility . 2010 . Temple University Press . Philadelphia . 978-1-59213-613-1 . 55–59 . 23 May 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100527225405/http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1899_reg.html . 27 May 2010 . dead .
  2. Web site: Ghost Bikes . Terry Lowe . Momentum Planet . https://web.archive.org/web/20090612115451/http://www.momentumplanet.com/features/ghost-bikes . 12 June 2009 . 23 May 2011.
  3. Web site: Jo Slota's website . Ghostbike.net . 25 April 2012.
  4. Fagan, Mark Friends seek ghost bike memorial for hit-and-run victim Lawrence Journal-World 25 October 2009
  5. http://mobikefed.org/2007/10/first-press-coverage-of-ghost-bike.php Roadside displays focus on plight of bicyclists
  6. Web site: Twarowski . Christopher . Ghostly bikes commemorate fallen cyclists, article at Columbia News Service . Jscms.jrn.columbia.edu . 25 April 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090819071007/http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2007-03-27/twarowski-ghostbikesunite . 19 August 2009 .
  7. Web site: Pittsburgh ghost bikes . Pittsburgh.indymedia.org . 25 April 2012 . 23 June 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100623205658/http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/14196.php . dead .
  8. Web site: New York Ghost Bikes . Ghostbikes.org . 25 April 2012.
  9. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/235063_ghostbikes03.html 'Ghost bikes' offer eerie reminder to share the road
  10. Web site: Created by gleejb View Groups . Albuquerque ghost bikes . Dukecityfix.com . 25 April 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120419024706/http://www.dukecityfix.com/group/albuquerqueansforghostbikes . 19 April 2012 . dead .
  11. News: O'Connor . Josh . Information Booth: Where did those ghostly white bikes come from? . National Post . 26 September 2011 . 25 April 2012 . Toronto . https://archive.today/20240527102437/https://www.webcitation.org/6ZopM4wNb?url=http://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/information-booth-where-did-those-ghostly-white-bikes-come-from . 27 May 2024 . live .
  12. News: Their Love Cannot Be Unchained: After 'Ghost Bike' Removal, Cyclists' Memorial Effort Intensifies . Ashley Halsey III . The Washington Post . 11 September 2009 . 11 September 2009 .
  13. Web site: London Ghost Bikes . Ghostbikes.org . 9 January 2012 . 25 April 2012.
  14. Web site: DURHAM: 'Ghost bike' memorial honors Seth Vidal | Durham County | NewsObserver.com . 2013-07-14 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131122015018/http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/07/13/3027977/ghost-bike-memorial.html . 22 November 2013 . News & Observer Retrieved 14 July 2013
  15. Web site: Cyclist remembered as 'community servant'. WRAL. 2 May 2013. WRAL.com.
  16. Web site: Bicyclist killed in Durham hit-and-run. WRAL. 8 July 2013. WRAL.com.
  17. Web site: Silsbee cyclist takes on mission to spread ghost bikes. Craig. Hlavaty. 29 April 2014. Beaumont Enterprise.
  18. Web site: Houston Ghost Bikes. Google My Maps.
  19. Web site: Ghost Bikes - ghost bikes. ghostbikes.org.
  20. Web site: Map: Chicago's ghost bikes. Charles J.. Johnson. Chicago Tribune.