This photo is from the Memorial Ride yesterday that draws attention to the bicyclists who were killed in the previous year. At each place where a cyclist died, a ghost bike is installed and for a minute, the bicyclists raise their bikes in the air.
It's a powerful and moving moment.
Particularly when it's six blocks from your front door and at the intersection you use every day.
photo by Andrew Hinderaker
6 comments:
I hope there comes a day -- in my riding lifetime -- where we don't need to add any new ghost bikes. Anywhere.
Can you imagine if this were done in every city? (Maybe it is, and I've just never seen it done.) What if we added motorcycles to that mix? What a profound and heartbreaking statement. Drivers EVERYWHERE should be more aware of their culpability.
It's terrible. I knew a courier who quit after a driver who wasn't paying attention, opened his car door right as my friend was biking past. My friend's collarbone was broken. Some drivers forget that it isn't just other drivers they need to pay attention to - it's the pedestrians/ bikers.
As a walker, I've been hit by a car (I luckily bounced off the hood unharmed, landed on my feet, and yelled a succinct, 'Shit!') It knocked the headphones off my head. The scariest part, is that all the near misses I've had have been when I had the right of way, and drivers weren't paying attention.
I'm one of the lucky ones.
My husband sometimes commutes to work by bike, and I bike for fun (er, I mean, exercise.)
Would you mind terribly much if I used your combox to recommend the How Not To Get Hit By Cars website? Because too many bikers do die, but there are a few ways we can protect ourselves from erratic drivers. (I am in no way connected with that website.)
http://bicyclesafe.com/
Thank you. :-)
Powerful stuff . . .
That is a pretty powerful image.
Sometimes, in my most morbid moments, I reflect on the fact that it's quite likely that something, if not someone, has died anywhere we can stand. Given the age of the Earth and the number of people and other creatures who have ever lived, it's not unlikely.
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