Originally Posted by SamHouston
Well staph, how many cyclists death do you have in Parkland MD? So many that there are newspaper, television or radio articles about these things?
First...
My name isn't staph and I am not from Parkland, Md, but this (Parkville) is a suburb of a major city (Baltimore), so I guess we have our share of bicycling related deaths. I am not sure how that is particularly relevent though
Since "The ghost bikes are placed exclusively on public property, in the manner of a parked bicycle so that they do not interfere with pedestrian traffic, and only with the consent of the family of the deceased, where applicable." I retract my criticism in those regards.
I still wonder whether the ghost bikes might not have a negative effect with regards to advocacy of cycling. I guess that is up to whoever is behind the ghost bikes to worry about (or not).
My perspective on the issue of road side memorials is based on what I have seen locally and while traveling. This experience has been limited to two types.
1. Identical white crosses along the highways in some jurisdictions.
2. "Improptu memorials" on the road sides.
Around here the second type are actually somewhat of a problem. They tend to take several different forms, but the most common is a pile of flower arrangements, crosses, wreaths, teddy bears, and other stuff to be placed at the scene of a fatal accident. These are placed with no regard for whose property they are placed on and typically remain for months or years as the the flowers die and they generally deteriorate to a pile of rubbish that never gets cleaned up unless the landowner or some governing body intervenes.
In one case here, a very drunk driver doing 90+ mph in a 30 mph zone killed himself by hitting a utility pole. It happened to be in front of a small dance studio that gave dance lessons to children. His friends started attaching stuff to the utility pole. This stuff included signs, flowers, crosses and other things. The quantity was sufficient that it created a bad blind spot for people trying to get out of the lot for the dance studio. Customers complained and the studio lost business. The owner started removing the stuff, but the friends of the deceased kept replacing it and began calling with death threats to the owner of the dance studio.
I mistakenly equated the ghost bikes with the "impromptu memorials" I have seen here. That apparently was based on a bad assumption on my part. I apologise if I offended anyone.