Ghost bike

File:Ghostcycle-2005.jpg, London, 2005]]

A ghost bike (also referred to as a ghostcycle or WhiteCycle) is a bicycle roadside memorial, placed where a cyclist has been killed or severely injured, usually by the driver of a motor vehicle.{{Citation | last =Sanders | first =Jacob Quinn | title =Ghost Bikes: Rough memorials honor cyclists killed while riding | newspaper =post-gazette | date =1 December 2010 | url =http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10335/1107199-51.stm | accessdate =1 December 2010 | archive-date =16 October 2011 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20111016151806/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10335/1107199-51.stm | url-status =dead }}

Apart from being a memorial, it is usually intended as a reminder to passing motorists to share the road. Ghost bikes are usually junk bicycles painted white, sometimes with a placard attached, and locked to a suitable object close to the scene of the accident.

History

File:Berlin ghostbike.jpg

The idea of painting bikes white originated in Amsterdam in the 1960s as part of an anarchist project and tactical urbanism initiative called the White Bicycle Plan to liberate two-wheel transport—white bikes were free, help yourself and then leave it for someone else.{{cite book |title=One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility |url=http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1899_reg.html |last=Furness |first=Zack |year=2010 |publisher=Temple University Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-1-59213-613-1 |pages=55–59 |access-date=23 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527225405/http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1899_reg.html |archive-date=27 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}

The ghost bike idea in the United States may have originated with a project by San Francisco artist Jo Slota, begun in April 2002. This was a purely artistic endeavor.{{cite web |url=http://www.momentumplanet.com/features/ghost-bikes |title=Ghost Bikes |author=Terry Lowe |work=Momentum Planet |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612115451/http://www.momentumplanet.com/features/ghost-bikes |archivedate=12 June 2009 |accessdate=23 May 2011}} Slota was intrigued by the abandoned bicycles that he found around the city, locked up but stripped of useful parts. He began painting them white, and posted photographs on his website, ghostbike.net.{{cite web|url=http://www.ghostbike.net/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060303213933/http://ghostbike.net/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=3 March 2006 |title=Jo Slota's website |publisher=Ghostbike.net |accessdate=25 April 2012}} San Francisco is one of the safer U.S. cities for bicyclists, but memorial ghost bikes sprang up there as elsewhere, changing perceptions of his project.{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}

A ghost bike memorial project was started in St. Louis, Missouri, in October 2003.Fagan, Mark [http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/oct/25/friends-seek-ghost-bike-memorial-hit-and-run-victi/ Friends seek ghost bike memorial for hit-and-run victim] Lawrence Journal-World 25 October 2009 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. They used damaged bikes, in some cases deliberately damaged to create the desired mangled effect.{{cite web |last=Twarowski |first=Christopher |url=http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2007-03-27/twarowski-ghostbikesunite |title=Ghostly bikes commemorate fallen cyclists, article at Columbia News Service |publisher=Jscms.jrn.columbia.edu |accessdate=25 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090819071007/http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2007-03-27/twarowski-ghostbikesunite |archivedate=19 August 2009 }}

File:Cyclist killed here sign.jpg

Similar projects began in Pittsburgh in 2004,{{cite web |url=http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/14196.php |title=Pittsburgh ghost bikes |publisher=Pittsburgh.indymedia.org |accessdate=25 April 2012 |archive-date=23 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623205658/http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2004/05/14196.php |url-status=dead }} New York City,{{cite web|url=http://ghostbikes.org/new-york-city |title=New York Ghost Bikes |publisher=Ghostbikes.org |accessdate=25 April 2012}} Seattle in 2005,[http://www.seattlepi.com/local/235063_ghostbikes03.html 'Ghost bikes' offer eerie reminder to share the road], Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3 August 2005. Albuquerque,{{cite web |author=Created by gleejb View Groups |url=http://www.dukecityfix.com/group/albuquerqueansforghostbikes |title=Albuquerque ghost bikes |publisher=Dukecityfix.com |accessdate=25 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419024706/http://www.dukecityfix.com/group/albuquerqueansforghostbikes |archive-date=19 April 2012 |url-status=dead }} and Toronto in 2006.{{cite news |last1=O'Connor |first1=Josh |url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/26/information-booth-where-did-those-ghostly-white-bikes-come-from/#more-96440 |title=Information Booth: Where did those ghostly white bikes come from? |work=National Post |date=26 September 2011 |accessdate=25 April 2012 |location=Toronto |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20240527102437/https://www.webcitation.org/6ZopM4wNb?url=http://news.nationalpost.com/toronto/information-booth-where-did-those-ghostly-white-bikes-come-from |archivedate=27 May 2024 |url-status=live }} In August 2005, nearly 40 ghost bikes were placed throughout Seattle to draw awareness to locations of crashes, near-misses, and poor road conditions. A ghost bike in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C., commemorating a rider killed by a garbage truck in 2008, remained for a full year. When it was removed by city employees, friends of the rider replaced it with 22 ghost bikes, one on every lamppost.{{Cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/10/AR2009091003213.html | title=Their Love Cannot Be Unchained: After 'Ghost Bike' Removal, Cyclists' Memorial Effort Intensifies | author=Ashley Halsey III |newspaper=The Washington Post | date=11 September 2009 | accessdate=11 September 2009 }} London Ghostcycle was active in 2005 and 2006.{{cite web|url=http://www.ghostbikes.org/london |title=London Ghost Bikes |publisher=Ghostbikes.org |date=9 January 2012 |accessdate=25 April 2012}} There have been similar projects in dozens of other cities worldwide. A bike memorial project{{cite web |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/07/13/3027977/ghost-bike-memorial.html |title=DURHAM: 'Ghost bike' memorial honors Seth Vidal | Durham County | NewsObserver.com |accessdate=2013-07-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122015018/http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/07/13/3027977/ghost-bike-memorial.html |archivedate=22 November 2013 }} News & Observer Retrieved 14 July 2013 was started in Durham, North Carolina, in 2013 to commemorate the death of two prominent cyclist{{cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/pedestrian-killed-in-raleigh-crash/12406954/|title=Cyclist remembered as 'community servant'|last=WRAL|date=2 May 2013|website=WRAL.com}} and bicycle safety advocates.{{cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/bicyclist-killed-in-durham-hit-and-run/12639104/|title=Bicyclist killed in Durham hit-and-run|last=WRAL|date=8 July 2013|website=WRAL.com}}

In late 2013 and early 2014, the Houston Ghost Bike Group has placed 47 ghost bikes to raise awareness during an especially deadly string of traffic violence involving automobiles taking place in Houston, many of them hit and run. Later in 2014 they were working on 13 more bikes to bring the list of deaths in recent years up to date.{{cite web|url=https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Silsbee-cyclist-takes-on-mission-to-spread-ghost-5439365.php|title=Silsbee cyclist takes on mission to spread ghost bikes|first=Craig|last=Hlavaty|date=29 April 2014|website=Beaumont Enterprise}}{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Qx8AGU7oV8JkDJMWkbnDuQYN_sk|title=Houston Ghost Bikes|website=Google My Maps}}

As of 2017 there were over 630 ghost bikes that have appeared in over 210 locations throughout the world.{{cite web|url=http://ghostbikes.org/|title=Ghost Bikes - ghost bikes|website=ghostbikes.org}} No single entity governs the installation of all ghost bikes, and they are sometimes removed by those who dislike the practice.{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/evanston/ct-map-chicago-ghost-bikes-20150513-htmlstory.html|title=Map: Chicago's ghost bikes|first=Charles J.|last=Johnson|website=Chicago Tribune}}

Gallery

File:Bicianimita de Arturo Aguilera.JPG|Ghost bike or "Bicianimita" in Santiago, Chile, with a traditional small house for the soul, commemorating Arturo Aguilera, killed 2012

File:Douglas-crow-ghost-bike-2.jpg|Ghost bike in Provo, Utah, USA, commemorating Douglas Crow, killed February 2013

File:New Orleans - Ghost Bike Sculpture on Elysian Fields Avenue, 2017.jpg|Ghost bike sculpture on Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans, 2017

File:Ghost bike Goswell Road.jpg|Ghost bike in Goswell Road, London, commemorating Søren Aarlev, killed July 2018

File:Ghost_bicycle_in_Howth,_Dublin_01.jpg|Ghost bike in Howth, Dublin, 2022

File:Ghost-bikes.jpg|59 ghost bikes in Auckland: art installation by Bike Auckland marking World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, 2024

References

External links

Information on ghost bikes around the world: [https://mapcomplete.osm.be/ghostbikes.html Ghost Bikes] (a project of OSM Belgium) and {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060303213933/http://ghostbike.net/ Ghost Bike]}}.
[https://GhostBikesChicago.org Ghost Bikes in Chicago]

Ghost bike

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links

Further reading