Ghost Bikes: More Dangerous Than Guns?

When kids are shot to death in school, “thoughts and prayers” are offered. But when anyone suggests making it more difficult to obtain firearms—especially assault weapons—some of the same folks who grace those kids with their “thoughts and prayers”  grow apoplectic: They rage about “losing” their “Second Amendment Rights” and argue that a school shooting now and then is a “price” we have to pay for “freedom.”

I would bet that among such stalwart defenders of our “rights” are the ones ordering that a “ghost” bike be removed from its place by a school because students would be traumatized by seeing it.

This scenario is unfolding at Sugar Mill Elementary School in Port Orange, Florida. Tara Okhovatian placed the memorial to ShaoLan Kamaly, a 10-year old who was struck and killed as she rode her bike to school last spring. Okhovatian is a friend of Kamaly’s family and said her son loved playing with ShaoLan, who said she didn’t like princesses because they “don’t do anything but wait for guys to save them.”

Okhovatian tried to save her memory. But she has been ordered to remove the makeshift shrine or law enforcement would “retrieve” it.

Ah, where else but in Florida, where it’s easier to get a gun than almost anyplace that’s not an active war zone, but helping kids remember their classmate is deemed too dangerous?

The Ghost Of St. Patrick Bike

In New York and other cities around the world, one can find "ghost bikes".  They usually look something like this

and are dedicated to cyclists who were struck by motor vehicles at or near the spot where the "ghost" stands.

They are indeed solemn reminders of the dangers we face.  But why can't we have more monuments to show the joys of riding--or at least the spirit of cyclists

From Chrispins

especially Irish ones.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"Ghostriding": Transporting A Bike On Your Bike

"Ghostbikes" are sad, grim testimonies to the hazards we face from unaware drivers, indifferent or hostile law enforcement agents as well as misguided or uninformed planners and bureaucrats.

Now, "ghostriding" doesn't refer to riding "ghostbikes".  Rather, it looks something like this:

From Instructables

As you can see, a person doesn't actually "ghostride" a bike.  Rather, he or she guides the "ghostridden" bike with one hand and controls the bike he or she is riding with the other. 

Every time I have done it, I've guided the "ghostrider" with my right hand.  That makes perfect sense when you know that I am right-handed.  Then again, everyone else I've seen "ghosting" a bike has also used his or her right hand.  Since I don't know what percentages of cyclists are right- or left-handed (or ambidexterous), I am guessing that practice is a result of riding on the right side of the road, which is what cyclists in every country in which I've ridden-- besides the UK-- do.  I'm sure I saw a "ghoster" or two during the times I was in England, but I can't recall whether they "ghosted" with their right or left hands.

I am thinking about all of this now because I saw someone "ghostriding" this morning, as I rode to work. He was astride a Cannondale mountain bike and he was "ghosting" a fixed-gear bike with dropped handlebars.  In some ways, that makes sense, as the fixed-gear bike is probably lighter and thus easier to guide.  Also, my own experience has shown me that it's easier to ride the bike with the more upright position and keep my arm level, or sloped somewhat downward, than to have to keep my arm in an upward position to hold the bike.

There are others, however, who would do the opposite.  My guess is that they feel they have more control on a fixed-gear bike (I would agree) and that guiding the heavier and more upright bike is easier because it's more stable.  Perhaps the guy in the photo (Believe it or not, I once looked something like him!) thinks the same way.

As you might have guessed, the hardest part about "ghostriding" is getting started. Once the bikes are in motion, it's somewhat more difficult than riding a single bike, but the momentum of the bikes helps to keep you going.   Your main concerns, once you're moving, are in maneuvering the "ghosted" bike--especially if you are in traffic-- and in stopping with only one hand.  Also, it helps to have a spot where you can easily lean the "ghosted" bike when you're ready to dismount.

I haven't "ghostridden" a bike in a while, but it's certainly easier than carrying a bike while you're riding one--something I've done, believe it or not.  It's also not much more difficult than carrying a frame while you ride, at least for short distances. 

Whatever way you transport your bike on a bike, it's better than that bike becoming a "ghostbike"!
 

An Inverted Ghost Bike

If you live in New York, or another city with a lot of cyclists, you've probably seen a Ghostbike:  a bicycle, painted white and locked to a signpost or other structure, to memorialize a cyclist (usually named on a plaque next to the bike) who was killed or severely injured.

They are stark and somber reminders of the fact that safe travel is still not seen as a right we, as cyclists, have in the same measure as motorists.  I also see it as a way to honor the memory of someone who, as likely as not, died needlessly.  On the other hand, such shrines probably convince others that cycling in urban areas--or cycling generally--is "too dangerous". 

Of course, succumbing to such a fear is not the way to make conditions safer, not only for cyclists, but also for pedestrians (who are probably killed as often as cyclists are), particularly those who are young children, elderly or disabled.

Likewise, one doesn't prevent war or any other kind of violence by acquiescing to one's fears about it.  As Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the Civil Rights movement showed us, the way to end or prevent war is to work for peace, and the way to combat injustice is to work for justice.

All right, I'll get off my soapbox now.  I got on it when I saw this:

I think of it as a kind of inverse--a photograph negative, if you will--to the Ghostbike.  The flower-festooned bike, parked at the corner of Hudson and Barrow Streets in Greenwich Village, is publicizing the "Peace Ride" led by Time's Up.  It leaves from the Ghandhi statue in Union Square Park at 2pm on the third Sunday of every month, and takes cyclists on a tour of the city's "peace sites".

The Ghost Of A Hipster Fixie (For Bronx Jon)

If you've cycled in New York, or any number of other cities, you've probably seen a "ghost bike."  It's painted white, and is usually an old, donated or discarded, bike.  This somber reminder of a cyclist who's been struck or killed by a motor vehicle is locked to a sign post or other structure by the site of the accident, and is accompanied by a small sign.


When I went to meet Lakythia for a ride yesterday, I saw one I'd seen many times before.  Not to make light of it, but I couldn't help but to think, "Where else but in Williamsburg?"

The neighborhood is, after all, the de facto home of the "hipster fixie."  As far as I know, this is the only bike of that genre to become a "ghost."  It commemorates "Bronx Jon":

To Jon, or your family or friends:  I mean no disrespect.  I'm glad that you've been so memorialized.  I think, though, that your memorial may well be one of a kind.