Will This “Fake” Save Lives?

 By now, most of us have seen “ghost” bikes.

Because they are painted stark white and, as often as not, mangled, they are difficult to ignore, even if you’ve already seen many.

While they attract attention, it’s fair to wonder whether they have any effect on drivers, whether of motorized scooters or bikes as well as cars, trucks and buses. After all, as I have learned the hard way, even when cyclists wear helmets and follow all laws and safety procedures, they are blamed (especially if they are killed) even if the driver is intoxicated and blows through a red light at twice the speed limit.

But, if a potential victim is a child—especially the driver’s own child—could that change motorists’ behavior?

David Smith seems to think so. The Murray, Utah resident has constructed a “fake” memorial consisting of a banged-up kids’ bike wrapped in flowers and a photo of a young child* in an intersection in his hometown.

While there is no record of any car-bike crashes at the site, prior to or since the installation, Smith says he’s seen “people slamming on the brakes where they used to pump on the gas.”

While some may question the ethics of the “fake,” Smith says that posting it as he did nearly two weeks ago is better than “putting out a picture of a kid I know.”

Local police would not comment on the memorial.

*—The child in the photo is someone Smith knew and is now a woman in her 40s.

An Unexpected Stop On Mu My Ride

Every day except one (Monday) during the past week we’ve had daytime high temperatures in the mid-90s (around 35C). And our days have been, ahem, graced with our (in)famous East Coast humidity.

So I have been taking early morning rides, mainly to and near bodies of water, and getting back to my apartment or the Garden before the midday heat.

Today didn’t exactly go according to plan, but I’m not complaining. I started riding later than I intended, but an unexpected encounter added a couple of hours to my ride.

I had just done a “loop” around Randall’s Island and crossed the Connector (which runs under the viaduct for the Amtrak and Metro North trains) back into the Bronx. While pedaling along the Willow Avenue lane to 138th Street, I saw three people—a young man and woman and someone who looked about 15 or 20 years older—gathered around someone who sat leaning against a railing. As I approached, I also saw a bicycle—specifically a red and black BMC road bike. 

As I got even closer, I saw blood streaked on his face. He lifted a towel to reveal its source:  a gash on his head.

He’d struck something in the path, he said, and held out his arm as he fell. It hurt, he said, but he could still move it, so he didn’t think it was broken. We were more worried about his head.

The young woman—his sister —had already called an ambulance. The older woman, his mother, talked to him (in Spanish) and rubbed him. The other young man, his brother, had brought a bottle of water and the towel. Turns out, they live only a couple of blocks away and could come quickly when he called. 

I couldn’t see what else, exactly, I could do. I offered my help nonetheless. Truth was, I didn’t want to leave the young man or his family until they got the help they needed: Having been in a couple of crashes myself, I was empathizing, if nothing else.

I made another call for an ambulance. Part of me thought simply that multiple calls would hasten its arrival; the cynic in me thought we might get a quicker response if the operator heard a Caucasian-sounding voice speaking English without a foreign accent.

I think the sister articulated one of the reasons why we waited so long—more than an hour. “Hay mucha gente mayor aqui”—there are many old people in the neighborhood. And the day’s heat was no doubt triggering or exacerbating their medical conditions.

Each of us made another call for an ambulance. Finally, in frustration, she called for an Uber. A driver arrived within five minutes. But, looking at the injured young man, he refused, saying he could be fined for taking him to a hospital.*

Finally, an ambulance showed up and took him and his sister to Metropolitan Hospital. A few minutes ago, his mother called to thank me and let me know that her son will be OK, although the prognosis was the opposite of what any of us expected: In spite of the blood that ran down his face, his head wound wasn’t as bad as anyone thought and he doesn’t have a concussion. He actually hurt his arm worse:  There’s a fracture just above his elbow.

His mother told me that when he rides again “aseguare de que use su casco”: I will make sure that he wears his helmet.

*—None of us knew, until then, that such a law existed. But it makes sense: EMTs and firefighters are trained to move victims’ bodies. An untrained Uber driver (or anyone else) could cause further harm. 

What Kinds Of Bike Lanes—And Where?

 When cities build bike lanes, they need to ask themselves what kind of cycling they are trying to promote. Answering that question should, at least in theory, help to determine what kind of lane will be built and where it will be placed.

It would seem that if a city really wants cycling to be á transportation option people would consider in lieu of driving or mass transportation—or in conjunction with the latter (e.g., riding a bike to a train station)—lanes that parallel main road would be the answer. 

Then the question arises as to whether the bike lane can be physically separated from the roadway. On some streets, that may not be an option.  Then one has to wonder whether a “bike lane” that is separated from traffic only by lines of paint would incentivize people to ride.

Also, bike infrastructure planning increasingly includes eBikes: Sales of them have quadrupled during the past five years. So…Should eBikes (and motorized scooters) share lanes with traditional human-powered bikes?  Can a lane be so designed—or would eBikes and other motorized “micromobility” vehicles be prioritized as automobiles have been over pedestrians and cyclists for more than a century?

(Or would there be a situation like we have in New York, where prohibitions against motorized vehicles in bike lanes simply aren’t enforced?)

Photo by Scott G. Winterton for Deseret News

I got to thinking about these questions after coming across this article. Apparently, planners in South Jordan, Utah are grappling with them, and others, as they decide on what kinds of bike lanes, and where, to build. It will be interesting to see what they decide.