Laika

this is a really striking memorial. I hope they never have to make another.

https://www.visualresistance.org/wordpress/

timmhaan

very moving indeed. however tragic these loses are, i'm continually impressed by all the support the local cycling community gives each other.

phidauex

There are a few memorials like this in St. Louis, I passed one every day on my way to work. It slowly got more and more beat up with time, and I think it was recently removed/stolen/etc. But I think it was up for over a year. Really made me think about that intersection.

peace,
sam

Roody

These shrines for the innocent victims of automobiles are very moving. We have several for pedestrians in my city but so far (thank God) none have been needed for cyclists. I was especially moved by a shrine I saw for two teenaged skaters that featured crosses made of skateboards.

Thanks also for the interesting link, laika.

slvoid

I ride by this ghost bike every day and it's a constant reminder to keep my eyes open and ride safely.

Cyclaholic

It's a powerfull memorial, I was touched.

Be safe, everyone.

drivelshtick

Am I the only one who thinks the phrase "killed by truck" unreasonably portrays the truck driver as soley at fault in this accident? She was, after all, attempting an illegal pass when this tragedy occured. Any thoughts?

nycm'er

Yes, you are being unreasonable. She was killed by a truck. Most accounts say she was avoiding being doored by one and was killed by another. She was killed by a truck. She didn't choke on a fish bone, or leap out a window. And I am not sure what you think about filtering forward is illegal.
Does drivel mean troll in some other language?

Miracle Whip

How is he being unreasonable. He asked a question. You on the other hand seem to have taken the typically no-fault attitude.

slvoid

It's hard to put it in words but I understand where you're coming from, the driver didn't intentionally kill her. But the fact is, it says, "killed by truck", not "killed by driver."

Laika

Here's a thought... Across the street, you could build your own ghost bike, and its plaque could read "Liz Padilla/25 years old/partly to blame for her own death, though it was in fact a truck that crushed her skull/why wasn't she practicing vehicular cycling?" I'll even spot you a can of flat white spraypaint.

ch0mb0

I just felt that the phrase "killed by truck" didn't need to be there.
Everything else in the memorial was more than appropriate.

BadAssBiker

Repeat memorial tonight, multiple locations.

details:
https://www.times-up.org/calendar/det...calendarid=352

dobber

It helps widen the chasm of "us versus them"

nycm'er

Because she was killed by a truck. That answered his question, it is my opinion that he is being unreasonable. She was killed by a truck on a street I pass on. She was killed and the same BS Police Department that has arrested hundreds of cyclists for made up infractions, couldn't make up an infraction to bust some slob who killed someone.
Why is it that on this forum posters jump to blame the victim? You ever been to a spot where some one has been killed a few minutes or hours before? I have, three times in the the last 6 weeks. It's more than a little disturbing and I vainly hope that I, nor anyone else has to again. We don't know what really happened, so to debate the sensibilities of lane position and to then sum up that she was probably at fault, is offensive and really pisses me off. People drive as if it is sport to threaten anything on the road or sidewalks. I am not claiming she was or wasn't at fault, I am saying that a truck killed a woman. There are plenty of idiots who have carelessly or intentionally nearly killed me and probably every other New York cyclist. So to say that I take a no-fault attitude is wrong, but I will say I am pretty dammed biased. If New Yorkers realized what they needlessly give up to cars and trucks in terms of life and quality of life, they would be outraged. Putting in the stencil makes the point.

BadAssBiker

take a look, these have been going on for the last 3 weeks. Many people find it very touching, even when it has been more than a month since the death and riders still arrive every week with flowers.

Note: These links are pictures of the other two memorials, not Liz's.

https://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/di...4292/index.php
https://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/di...4290/index.php

Seanholio

It seems to me that many people are oversensitive. In fact, she was killed by the truck. If a boulder rolled down a hill and smashed someone at the bottom, we would say that she was killed by the boulder. If someone dies of the cold, the cold killed them. Do we turn around and say, "It sounds like we're blaming God [or Whatever] too much in these deaths." I think not.

I'll not say that anyone has been unreasonable, but I think we need to grow thicker skins.

Laika

for at least four nyc cyclists this year, the chasm between "us" and "them" is six feet deep.

emmaboo

he's/she's not being unreasonable, but you might be. someone elsewhere in this thread is getting semantic, talking about boulders falling or killer viruses, as if 'killed by truck' were an innocent descriptor. i don't want to get sensational, but there are a lot of ways to cast 'killed by gun' to construe the nature of a death; someone who blows their brains out is 'killed by gun' as much as someone caught by a stray bullet. i won't go so far with this analogy to insist that miss padilla was behaving suicidally in her route, but her action was reckless.

it's really sad what happened, and it has haunted me since i first heard it. but 'killed by truck' is not a responsible way to respond, as others who have posted would perhaps agree.

i'm a trucker myself, and we agree on some things: the BS Police Department being one. Let me tell you, if the cops thought they could get away with nailing someone on this, they certainly would; they are by no means protecting truckers. we get harassed and sh*t on left and right. so, let's not rely on the cops to provide the barometer with which to fathom who's at fault, because the cops are not reliable. but i hope it's not unreasonable to suggest that bikers can be at fault in their tragedies, and this sounds like one of those cases.

at the risk of drawing the ire of many on this forum, there is a self-righteous bent to aspects of the biking community here in nyc. "some slob who killed someone" exposes this. i think embedded in that sentiment is a certain classism that you ought to do without. i'm a trucker, but a somewhat unusual one in that i'm educated. if we're talking about a "trucking community" and a "biking community", i'll lay you odds that the bikers hold more degrees than the truckers. that probably makes it easier to think a guy who opened the door of his truck is a "slob who killed someone". but you should cut that out.

a lot of truckers are idiots, and a lot of bikers are fools. the roads are dangerous here, and ACCIDENTS happen. Riding between two box trucks just might increase the number of those accidents, "filtering forward" or not.

tippy

What caught my attention was this: " Both women were commuters riding on busy streets with no bike lanes.". Were they trying to make the point that a bike lane would have prevented their deaths? The "no bike lane" phrase seemed out of sorts with me more than "killed by truck". Maybe it's just me.

d.tipton