Ghost Bikes

Author: Ashley Woodfolk
Publication Date: 19 October 2009

An old, seemingly abandoned bike sits chained to a sign beneath a streetlight—the rusted reds and dingy blues of its various parts covered with a thick coat of shockingly white paint.  Wild flowers in pink, yellow, and purple are tied to its handle bars, and stick out between its spokes.   Stuffed animals sit at its base, leaning against a broken chain and tires that haven’t spun in years.

Bikes like these sit quietly at intersections and corners, in cities all over the world.  Ghost bikes are old bicycles, scavenged from junk yards or dumpsters, painted white and erected at the sites of fatal biking accidents and used to be very private, whispered farewells. What started as a small community project in St. Louis to honor and commemorate the lives of cyclists killed in traffic accidents has quickly become a widespread urban phenomenon.

Often erected by a combination of fellow cyclists and random strangers, the good Samaritans that immortalize these fallen bikers are usually unknown to the victims and their families.  Ghost bikes unite people who might otherwise have never crossed paths in an artistic expression that gives a voice and visibility to an often overlooked population.

Recently, in Washington, DC, a ghost bike that had been at an intersection for more than a year was removed from its post after surrounding business owners complained about it to the city government, claiming it was costing  them customers.  After being cited as an “eye sore” in a formal complaint, the ghost bike honoring Alice Swanson, a 22-year-old victim struck and killed by a garbage truck in 2008, was removed.  This decision caused a bit of a disturbance in the biking community, but also inspired a local artist.

Legba Carrefour, a Washington native and biker since childhood, is the mastermind behind Alice’s resurrected memorial.  He did not know the victim, but spent two weeks gathering bicycles—scouring junk yards, craigslist and alleyways—and painted every one he found white.  Once he’d collected 22 bikes (one for each year of Alice’s life), he rented a truck, drove to the site of her accident, and placed the bikes across all four corners of the intersection.  The entire community was touched by the gesture, and many of the bikes were covered in flowers before nightfall.

There are currently over 100 ghost bikes in 15 countries. Once a political statement, ghost bikes have become a symbol of love and community in cities all over the world. Traffic accidents claim the lives of over 700 cyclists each year, but Carrefour’s project in DC and the ghost bikes in other parts of the world inspire far more people than that every single day.

http://www.ghostbikes.org/
http://aliceswansonridesagain.wordpress.com/

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