If you have followed this blog you probably know by now that along with photography, pets (especially dogs) and the homeless, my other consuming passion is bicycling. I have been riding a bike since I was a little kid and I plan to keep on riding well into my old age. Nothing feels better than jumping on my metal steed and just “disappearing” for a few hours while the miles roll under my bike’s wheels. I usually come back from a ride tired, but in a much better mood than when I began riding (unless, of course, I happen to get a flat tire).
Biking is a great sport – don’t miss Arcabulle Odriscoll’s posts about the Tour de France and then watch the Tour on television this coming July. Bicycling is also a great way to get good exercise and to clear the mental cobwebs that occasionally keep us from “thinking right.” And, let’s not forget, bicycling is a wonderful method of transportation that helps keep the planet green by reducing our “carbon footprint.”
Bicycling can also be very dangerous, especially when riders are forced to share the road with smoke belching behemoths driven by people with little, or no, concern for the wellbeing and safety of riders. In other countries, like The Netherlands and Canada, bike riders have rights and are treated with respect and courtesy – not so in many parts of the United States.
Every year biker riders are injured, severely maimed or killed because of the carelessness, and sometimes outright hostility, of drivers of motor-driven vehicles. In order to remind the public of the horrible consequences of drivers' indifference or hostility towards riders, an organization called Ghost Bikes has set up memorials in places where bike riders have been injured or killed on the streets.
A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists' right to safe travel.
The first ghost bikes were created in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003, and they have since appeared in over 80 cities throughout the world. For those who create and install the memorials, the death of a fellow bicyclist hits home. We all travel the same unsafe streets and face the same risks.
At a recent event held in Los Angeles, bike riders from all over Southern California gathered to remember a a bike riders who had been recently killed by a drunk driver. Here is news footage of the event:
Here are some photographs of a ghost bike set up on the corner of La Brea Boulevard and Fountain Avenue in Los Angeles, California.
(Click on image for a closer view.)
Recently, bike riders have increasingly come under attack by motorists who hate to share the road with bike riders. In Los Angeles, a doctor used his car as a weapon against bike riders. (Whatever happened to doctors helping people?)
Here is another story of a bicyclist recently injured on a Los Angeles street.
Incidents like these will continue to increase as more bike riders take to the streets and drivers continue to be careless, aggressive - or both. We need more laws to protect bike riders, we need more bike lanes and we especially need drivers to be better educated about bike riders.
In the meantime, all of you who ride bikes, please be careful for your own safety's sake. Those of you who drive, please be extra careful (and protective of) around bike riders - the rider that you "protect" could be your son, daughter, husband, wife, friend or loved one.
Learn to share the road!
