That opening is so perfect, there is no way I can improve upon it, so I borrowed it (and credited the author, of course). And, yes, what if we saw the consequences of our actions every time we went by the locations of our biggest mistakes? What if you hit a cyclist on your commute home, and killed them, then had to see their name and date of death every time you went by there again? How would that affect your actions? Your perception? Your feelings and thoughts on the incident? Your life? Friends? Family?
Ghost bikes are that reminder. They're a reminder to the person who struck and killed the cyclist, and they're a reminder to other drivers to keep their eyes open.
If you've driven down Hamilton road lately, you'll have seen three white bikes chained to posts in various places over the years, generally placed by family and friends, Critical Mass, London Cycle Link, or some combination of the three. As you travel south-east along Hamilton, you'll come first to the spot at Colborne and Hamilton where, in 2013, they set up a white bike for Bill Seeley who perished after being hit by a train. Travel a little further along, to Inkerman street, and you'll come to the one for Jibin Benoy, who died early one morning last July when struck by a car on his way home from work. Sadly, this bike has been vandalized, out of straight up ignorance, maybe a lack of compassion, or perhaps, the people doing it did not understand the significance of the bike. Further along, you come to the most recent bike.
This bike was put up for Rafal Sabat, killed on his way home on June 19th, 2024.
London's first white bike was put up at Egerton & Brydges streets. It was placed for Caleb Losier, a 21 year old killed Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 while riding. It was there five years before it disappeared. The first memorial on Hamilton was at Hamilton and East streets where 24-year-old Nicholas Kennedy perished when struck from behind by an SUV.
These bikes are indicative of a problem: a lack of safe riding space and a lack of awareness (concern) from drivers. We are not here to talk about the safety of the road; we are here to learn about the white bikes.
(Borrowed from http://nva.org.uk/artwork/witte-fietsenplan-white-bike-plan/ A very interesting read)
The white bike originated, really, in Amsterdam in the 1960s. It was an anarchist project and something called "tactical urbanism" aka: guerilla urbanism, pop-up urbanism, city repair and DIY repair. It's a low-cost, temporary way to change the state of your city. The goal, in this case, was to have a bunch of free bikes, all white, so that a person could borrow one to get what they need doin' done, then leave it for the next person. This sort of movement works within the current structure of the city.
Another iconic movement was the 'White Bicycle Plan' of the controversial 1960s group, Provo, which involved leaving 50 white painted bicycles on the streets for public use, evoking a reaction [from] the police in order to promote a public bicycle sharing scheme.
(https://citychangers.org/it-was-no-easy-ride/ Fascinating read)
Decades later, spring of 2002, in San Francisco, California, an artist named Jo Slota started to notice how many bikes were abandoned, locked up, on the streets of his city. He began painting them white and photographing them. He called them "Ghost Bikes" and his website, ghostbike.net, a site that is now defunct. When the memorial bikes started popping up, Slota was annoyed that his project had been appropriated and the perception of the work he had done changed. Now, he is pleased that the bikes have been so "potent and adaptable".*
Patrick Van Der Tuin of Missouri, US, was out and about one day when he saw a cyclist struck down by a motor vehicle, while in the bike lane**. It had a profound impact on him. He began a movement in St. Louis whereby he first painted a white bike and placed it at the location with a hand-lettered sign saying, "Cyclist Struck Here". He noticed that it had quite an impact on the drivers, day by day. He enlisted friends to help him put up 15 more white bikes where cyclists had been killed. Most often, they used damaged bikes, hoping for more impact.
Soon, other cities followed suit: Pittsburgh in 2004; NYC in 2005; Seattle was also in 2005 and they placed forty bikes just in August. Albuquerque and Toronto posted their first bikes in 2006. In Washington, on Dupont Circle, the first bike in D.C. was placed on Dupont Circle after a cyclist was struck by a garbage truck. The bike remained for a year before it was removed and once it was, friends put up 22 bikes, one on each lamppost.
London, UK, had a group called GhostCycle that was active in 2005 and 2006. Dozens of other cities have seen groups like these pop up over the years. The first to memorialize a cyclist death, Durham, North, white bikes go up for two prominent cyclists killed in the city. In late 2013 to early 2014, Houston, Texas, placed 47 bikes to raise awareness of cyclist safety after a string of violent and deadly traffic accidents (or lack thereof).
As of 2017 there were over 630 ghost bikes in more than 210 locations in the world.
A memorial for Douglas Crow, struck February 15, 2013 in Provo, Utah, United States
All of this makes it seem like it's too dangerous to ride. However, lots of evidence shows that the more riders there are in a city, the safer it is for them (Amsterdam comes to mind, Kitchener is going a long way to make the city safe, too). The more cyclists a city has, the more likely they are to put money into infrastructure. The more cyclists a city has, the more they'll pour more money into infrastructure and ensuring the safety of everyone on the road.
So don't let the sometimes horrific stories of vehicles meeting cyclists discourage you from riding. There are all kinds of ways to make it safer for yourself to be out there. To name a few:
lights, front and back, maybe on a helmet, too
tires with a reflective strip
shoes with a reflective strip, or a reflective cuff around your ankle
a reflective jacket or vest
helmets
gloves (when you crash, and we all do, these protect your hands from damage)
knowing what to do at various intersection types
good cycling skills - that's everything from knowing how and when to shoulder check, to signaling, to being able to dodge sudden obstacles
Get your butt on a bike and be counted while you rack up the kilometers. Get involved in city meetings to talk about infrastructure. Replace half your erranding drives with rides.
We will be commuting as often as we can as soon as my new ebike comes in. My next blog will be about e-bike laws, with a little about kick scooters and mobility scooters thrown in.
See you next month!
If you want to go further in learning about the ghost bikes.
Bibliography: The wiki link
This is great, the whole idea of the Ghost Bikes, it should be happening in every city so that all people become more conscious of the need for increased safety measures. Calgary has a very extensive network of bike and pedestrian paths that are off the vehicle roads, something that other cities should certainly consider. Very well written and informative blog, thank you.