The ghost bikes
 

this is a general question for all , I'm sorry to say that in my city there have been five fatalities this year , I'm talking cyclist and automobile collision or similar, of course the old "I didn't see him coming " has been spoken in every incident,, but in my area they have started to recover the bike and paint it solid white and prop in up on the spot of said fatality and putting lets say a cross or other articles , sort of like a shrine for the dead cyclist,,,, the question is ,,, Is this common practice in all states or is it just in this particular city, has someone seen anything similar??

it is common we have them in Houston and Galveston

HEAVY SIGH,
Distressingly all too common here as well.

I've seen one or two... spread out over decades. I've seen FAR MORE crosses along side the roadways (for motorist).

There are many dangers in cycling... it is a blood sport and cycling is naturally filled with ouchies. But for the most part cycling is also relatively safe.

Yes, this is the one for Sher Kung, who was famously killed a year ago last August a week before the protected bike line opened in that exact location that might have saved her life.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/...s_near_a_w.jpg

The ghost bike thing makes me wonder why the German company Ghost Bikes chose that name.

Kind of like when Chevy decided to market a car in Mexico without considering that the model name, Nova, means "Doesn't Go" in Spanish.

I seen the "Ghost Bikes" on the internet and know what they represent. Sadly, I am the only one who bicycle commutes in my area and gave my wife specific instructions on what to do if I am killed on my bicycle. Hence, I may be the first "Ghost Bike" in my area.

Sad to say it happens in too many places.

We have them here in Toronto also.

Because they were in business before ghost bikes became a thing;they've only recently began selling in the US. Anthrax didn't change the name of their band after 9/11 for the same reason. Also,I don't think they do ghost bikes in Europe.

I get that, but many companies choose a new name when bringing product to the US if there is no positive marketing impact of their existing name.

Seems like elementary market research would have revealed the significance of the term ghost bikes in this culture.

Sorta like the diet supplement called "AYDS".....................

Nova in Spanish means the same thing as Nova in English.

"No Va" in Spanish means "Don't Go" in English.

GH

Sad to say, but we have ghost bikes here too.

See, that's what Chevy thought too, they thought the Mexican car buying audience would make that distinction.

But instead it went down as number 3 of the three worst foreign marketing decisions of all time, just behind Seven Up deciding to translate their then-marketing slogan "Goes down smooth" directly into Spanish, which apparently came out as "Gives your diarrhea" and Gerber Baby Foods deciding to not change their labels for sale in Africa, where unfortunately because of all the many different languages, the custom is to put a picture of what is inside the container on the label, and nobody wanted to buy what as far as they could tell was canned minced white baby.

We have them in Chicago.

people often attached bunches of flowers to lampposts or put small crucifixes by the road but no ghost bikes.
These are the New Zealand statistics for '14 & '15 to date
The numbers may seem low but is population is about 4 million about the size of a lot of self respecting cities.

[TABLE="class: table table--header-borders, width: 676"]
[TR]
[TH] [/TH]
[TH="colspan: 2"]Year from 1 Jan[/TH]
[TH="colspan: 2"]12 months to 26/08[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]2014[/TH]
[TH]2015[/TH]
[TH]2014[/TH]
[TH]2015[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Casualty Types:[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]Drivers[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]Passengers[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]Motor Cycle Riders[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]Motor Cycle Pillions[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]Pedestrians[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]Pedal Cyclists[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]Other[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]Casualty Ages:[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]0-14 yrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]15-19 yrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]20-24 yrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]25-39 yrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]40-59 yrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 150"]60 + yrs[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

We have them in Houston but I do not believe that they are the actual recovered bikes that the victims died riding. I think they are just bikes that someone painted white.

Just searched and found, "How to Obtain and Prepare a Bike: We usually get free “junk” bike donations from bike repair shops or local supporters. We strip each bike of non-essential parts (cables, grips, brakes) and recycle them; this makes it easier to paint and also less attractive to thieves. You should probably use a bike that does not have sentimental value because it could be removed."

This is from How To | ghost bikes

The Nova tale is somewhat of an 'urban legend.'
snopes.com: Nova Don't Go

Wow! At least if it's mentioned in "numerous marketing textbooks" I don't feel too bad about believing it, especially since I first heard it years ago from my late father, who was a business professor.

There are a few ghost bikes in the Cincinnati area. I often ride past the one set up near Lunken Airport for Andrew Gast, where some nice improvements have recently been made to the adjacent trail/MUP. I saw one in downtown Pittsburgh during a trip I took a few months ago, as well. I think it's a fairly common practice (at least in the U.S.) wherever there is a vibrant cycling community, and wherever unfortunate incidents lead to the loss of life.

You're not getting it. While it's relevant to say, remove the twin towers in post processing for Spiderman (the first one that didn't suck), it's not feasible to change the name of a company because, in another context entirely, the term has a somber connotation. That's like asking Stolen to change their name because somebody, somewhere, suffered a serious injury as the victim of a bike theft.

I've never seen one. I first learned about them reading Yehuda Moon cartoons.

Lots of the roads around here have memorials of flowers, crosses, or signs for people who died there, but they were generally in cars. I guess a ghost Buick is too much trouble to install.