Wow, it is definitely a hot summer in July! I sympathize with the rest of you dealing with the heat, in Georgia it’s a wall whenever I go outside thanks to the humidity. I came to grips with that heat wall the other day while I was out biking on the Beltline (a terrific pedestrian-only path that runs all over the city of Atlanta). Though, on that trip what caught my attention was a white bike tied to a telephone pole at a crosswalk where the Beltline leads to Piedmont Park. I am familiar with this bike, it sits across from my high school. For a while I paid no attention to it, even when it was first placed there I didn’t really realize it until I learned what it meant.
This white bike is one of many Ghost Bikes. This Ghost Bike is for a student who in 2016 was struck by a car at this intersection and died on the way home from school. She was 3 years older than me.
A Ghost Bike serves as a memorial, to remind the world that a seemingly uninteresting corner completely changed someone’s life. They are usually a bike that is irreparable and unusable, so as not to take a bike off of the street. There are over 600 ghost bikes in the US, there are more than 250 ghost bikes in New York City alone. They can be found all over the world from Ukraine to Ecuador.
They are a reminder that we often view the pedestrian at fault, as was the case of my peer. They are a reminder that a fragile bike stands no chance against a car. They are a reminder that in only the first half of 2022 drivers in the United States struck and killed 3,434 people.
Ghost Bikes are a reminder of the work that needs to be done and the work that has been done. In my case, we testified and worked with the City Council to install a HAWK signal, a scramble (when all the cars have to stop for pedestrians to cross), and cameras to create a safer environment for not only the Beltline traffic but for the students going to and from school. Still in 2022 a student was hit by a car near the intersection, she went to the hospital and is ok now but it is a reminder that more work needs to be done. Shortly after during the 2022 Youth Bike Summit, I lead a group out to this crosswalk. We put flowers in front of Alexia’s white bike and discussed the intersection, and how the 4-lane thoroughfare meeting the 3-lane road was built for cars, not pedestrians. We discussed how we can change the intersection to focus on the pedestrian so that we can prevent any more accidents from happening. Now there are plans to fully rework the intersection by repaving the streets.
What has been insightful for me is that once I learned the story of ghost bikes I couldn’t stop seeing them. When you are aware of them you learn so much more about the design of transportation. So much is said in a white locked-up bike.
Have you seen any Ghost Bikes near you Brian? What has been your experience with Ghost Bikes?
