Advocacy & Safety - Ghost Bike

Link Here (http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2806179/)
Better picture showing bike is placed right in the same spot bicycle came to rest here (http://flickr.com/photos/jrees/2448516993/)

'Ghost Bike' Marks Spot Where Raleigh Bicyclist Hit
Ghost Bike

Posted: Apr. 28 7:02 p.m.

Raleigh, N.C. — A memorial known as a "ghost bike" now marks the spot where a Raleigh woman was struck by a vehicle last week.

Nancy Antoine Leidy, 60, died April 23, hours after she was struck by a pickup truck, driven by Brian Anthony Reid, near the intersection of Nazareth Street and Crusader Drive.

Ghost bikes are painted white and placed at sites across the United States where a bicyclist has been hit or killed by a driver to remind motorists to share the road.

Reid, 21, faces one count each of felony death by motor vehicle, driving while impaired, felony assault by motor vehicle and failure to reduce speed.

Police said he had been celebrating his 21st birthday at the time of the crash.

There was a ghost bike pictured in today's Detroit Free Press. It memorializes a bicyclist who was killed last weekend IN Royal Oak, Michigan by a hit-and-run driver who has not yet been found. I'd never heard of ghost bikes before.

For those unfamiliar with the Detroit area -- this occurred on Woodward Avenue, the broadest throughfare in the state, and yes, home of the Woodward Dream Cruise. It is well-traveled and has plenty of room for both motorists and bicyclists. There's no excuse for this.

The story is here -- > http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080926/COL27/809260362/1081

Neat Idea to say the least...IMHO

Police said he had been celebrating his 21st birthday at the time of the crash.

Happy Birthday. You're going to jail.

Happy Birthday. You're going to jail.

Probably wouldn't be if he weren't drunk when he hit her.

Probably wouldn't be if he weren't drunk when he hit her.



True. Sad, but true.

We've put out three ghost bikes this year... :(

There was a ghost bike pictured in today's Detroit Free Press. It memorializes a bicyclist who was killed last weekend IN Royal Oak, Michigan by a hit-and-run driver who has not yet been found. I'd never heard of ghost bikes before.

For those unfamiliar with the Detroit area -- this occurred on Woodward Avenue, the broadest throughfare in the state, and yes, home of the Woodward Dream Cruise. It is well-traveled and has plenty of room for both motorists and bicyclists. There's no excuse for this.

The story is here -- > http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080926/COL27/809260362/1081


Rest in peace to a Detroit bike commuter. Royal Oak is a good place to ride around, by Detroit's standards. Car was a 2008 Jeep Liberty, White in color

Neat Idea to say the least...IMHO

Alas, ritepath, I have to disagree with you.

Ghost bikes promote the notion that cycling is a very dangerous activity, and that pernicious myth is one of the barriers to making bicycling more popular.

Alas, ritepath, I have to disagree with you.

Ghost bikes promote the notion that cycling is a very dangerous activity, and that pernicious myth is one of the barriers to making bicycling more popular.

Suppose the bike was also to include a sign mentioning that the cyclist was killed by a drunk driver?
Then rather than promoting the myth that cycling is dangerous, it points out that drunk driving is dangerous to otherwise safe activities?

There are several "ghost bikes" in Manhattan. Note: I happen to dislike the concept of roadside memorials in general.

While I sympathize with the family and friends of the bereaved, as someone who did not know the individual I don't need to be reminded of the spot where an ordinary citizen died for the rest of my life. It doesn't make anyone any safer, clutters up sidewalks, and often they become eyesores.

I'm willing to put up with them for a short time, unfortunately they tend to persist far beyond what seems justifiable and worthwhile.



Suppose the bike was also to include a sign mentioning that the cyclist was killed by a drunk driver? Then rather than promoting the myth that cycling is dangerous, it points out that drunk driving is dangerous to otherwise safe activities?
Is that what you really need to learn that driving under the influence is unsafe....?

IMO there is no redeeming social value to ghost bikes, only to family and friends of the dead.

Ghostbikes remind the @sshole who killed someone that they killed someone.

So the cyclist who got hit in Royal Oak was on Woodward. I don't know a part of Woodward in Royal Oak that has a safe place to ride a bike. People in the Detroit area, in general, drive like jerks. Royal Oak is full of such jerks who figure where they gotta go in a hurry is more important than you or your safety. Woodward's got a lot of those parking lots that run along the road in front of the storefronts. Crappy traffic. People drive too fast and too aggressively for safe cycling. Very sad to see. I consider myself a reasonable guy when it comes to assessing risk, and I wouldn't ride on Woodward around there.

Funny, but downtown Royal Oak could be really bike friendly, but it's not. That's because, to a significant extent, of the choices the local government made about how it was going to plan the development of the space. The space is perfect to be like Berkley, California with regard to how pedestrians and cyclists are given priority. Another shame. A shame that leads to death accidents.

Now, I'm not trying to take any culpability away from that driver that hit the cyclist. Only meant to say that I'm familiar with the mess that Royal Oak is, and that it would have been easy to make the city a better place to ride and to make families feel more comfortable.

Ghostbikes remind the @sshole who killed someone that they killed someone.
Accidents, even fatal ones, do happen. Sometimes the driver is 100% at fault, sometimes it's the cyclists' fault, many times both are making errors....

I like ghost bikes. But in general, I'm against roadside memorials. Usually when I see one, I wonder to myself how anyone could have been killed at that location. There was a motorcycle accident near me where the motorcyclist was weaving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed. He was on the wrong side of the road when someone pulled out of their driveway and he nailed them. I don't know if they misjudged his speed or didn't see him. There was an elaborate memorial by the side of the road for a few months, now it's gone. I always thought that the person that pulled out was a victim of the deceased, not the other way around. They probably don't need to see that memorial every day to feel guilty.

There was another accident near us where the deceased caused the accident, and injured a batch of other people. Someone kept putting up a cross, and the victims kept taking it down.

I've never seen a ghost bike. Have seen plenty of highway memorials.

i have seen 2 ghost-bikes here in s nj. (chilling reminder)

it's odd however, both have been rapidly removed.

there are memorials in place at other locations with teddybears/pictures/statements however. these are for motorists, bicyclists, pedestrials, and motorcyclists who have been killed. no ghost-bikes.

Accidents, even fatal ones, do happen. Sometimes the driver is 100% at fault, sometimes it's the cyclists' fault, many times both are making errors....

Nod. Just feeling a little bitter here. We've had four fatalities in one month over here in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Is that what you really need to learn that driving under the influence is unsafe....?



*glances at traffic*

Apparantly so.
Unless you mean some kind of govt. sponsored campaign... but I don't see that happening...