- Ghost bike
A ghost bike or ghostcycle is a
bicycle set up in a place where acyclist has been hurt or killed as amemorial to the injured or fallen rider and as a reminder to passing motorists to share the road. [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235063_ghostbikes03.html 'Ghost bikes' offer eerie reminder to share the road] , "Seattle Post-Intelligencer " 3 August 2005.] A junk bicycle is painted white and locked to a suitable object close to the scene of the accident,merged with a white placard and (typically) red stencilled lettering. These memorials are mainly apolitical statement – aiming to make a wider point beyond personal loss – erected by pro-cycling organizations, unlike a typicalroadside memorial , which is usually purely personal.History
The first ghost bike memorial project was in St. Louis,
Missouri ,United States in October 2003. 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. [ [http://mobikefed.org/2007/10/first-press-coverage-of-ghost-bike.php Roadside displays focus on plight of bicyclists] , Greg Jonsson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 17 November 2003; re-posted on Missouri Bicycle Federation website, 29 October 2007.]Similar projects began in Pittsburgh in 2004, [ [http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/14196.php Pittsburgh ghost bikes] ]
New York City , [ [http://ghostbikes.org/new-york-city New York Ghost Bikes] ] Seattle in 2005, andChicago in 2006. [ [http://www.chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=1308&TM=74525.19 Elegy for a bike rat] ]London Ghostcycle was active in 2005 and 2006. [ [http://www.ghostcycle.org.uk/ Ghostcycle UK] ] There have been similar projects in dozens of other cities worldwide. [ [http://ghostbikes.org/cities Cities with ghost bike projects] ]San Francisco artist Jo Slota began the original ghost bike project in April 2002. This was a distinct, purely artistic endeavor [ [http://www.momentumplanet.com/features/ghost-bikes Momentum Planet] ] which involved finding abandoned bicycles locked on city streets, painting them pale gray, and recording them on a website. [ [http://www.ghostbike.net/ Jo Slota's website] ] Shortly after learning of the growing 'ghost bike' movement, Slota stopped painting bikes to avoid confusing the iconography.
Quotes on ghost bikes
Usually within one week of a cyclist’s dying in the saddle, a bicycle is donated or salvaged and covered with three coats of white paint. Often members of the project will gather for a memorial ride to the accident site. A short ceremony will conclude with a “bike lift,” a cyclist send-off in which mourners raise their bikes above their heads and are silent. The victim is rarely known to the cycling community, but the memorials often serve as congregating places for members of bicycle-advocacy groups like Time’s Up! and Transportation Alternatives. [ [http://nymag.com/news/features/47819/ New York Magazine, "Ghost Riders" (June 2008)] ]
"When we make ghost bikes, we tap into the hurt of the world. Each person is part of the soul of their city. These stories can make headlines one day and are forgotten the next - we try to make the city remember. We choose to honour that stranger we know could just as easily be our friend, our sister, our own self. That choice makes us whole." [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/may/17/art "Cycle of Life and Death" The Guardian (May 2008)] ]
ee also
*
Bicycle safety
*Ride of Silence
*Vehicular cycling References
External links
*Information on ghost bikes around the world: [http://ghostbikes.org Ghost Bikes]
*Patrick Van Der Tuin's web site [http://www.pbase.com/terbo/brokenbikes Broken Bikes Broken Lives] with photos of original Ghost Bike installations
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92577689 For Cyclists, 'Ghost Bikes' Are a Haunting Memorial, NPR Radio (July 2008)]
* [http://nymag.com/news/features/47819/ New York Magazine, "Ghost Riders" (June 2008)]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/may/17/art "Cycle of Life and Death" The Guardian (May 2008)]
* [http://mobikefed.org/2003/11/st-louis-cyclists-bring-attention-to.php Earliest known press coverage of the Ghost Bike movement]
* [http://mobikefed.org/2003/11/ghost-bike-project-on-fox2-news.php Early reference to Ghost Bike campaign in St. Louis]
* [http://mobikefed.org/2004/06/broken-bikes-broken-lives-ghost-bikes.php Press coverage of the Ghost Bike movement in 2004]
* [http://ghostbikes.net/projects/ghostbikes.php Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin Ghost Bike Campaign]
* [http://Ghostcycle.org/ Ghostcycle: Bike Accident Awareness in the Seattle Area]
* [http://la.metblogs.com/2006/09/23/ghost-bike-for-ilia/ Ghost Bike at Los Angeles vigil for cyclist Ilia Pankin killed by hit-and-run driver at intersection of Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards, September 2006]
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