Ghost bikes

wpdoolan

see story here sounds like a great idea

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fe ... 201640.ece

biondino

There have been a few discussions about these ghost bikes - it's interesting to see various people's views. The negatives seem to revolve around the ghost bikes discouraging people from riding, if I remember rightly? Personally I think the tributes, the visual effect, and the stark reminder to cyclist and drivers alike that it's all too easy to die on a bike, makes them a good thing.

I also knew James Danson-Hatcher, the guy featured in the article - a lovely chap and a tragic waste. RIP.

always_tyred

biondino wrote:

There have been a few discussions about these ghost bikes - it's interesting to see various people's views. The negatives seem to revolve around the ghost bikes discouraging people from riding, if I remember rightly? Personally I think the tributes, the visual effect, and the stark reminder to cyclist and drivers alike that it's all too easy to die on a bike, makes them a good thing.

I also knew James Danson-Hatcher, the guy featured in the article - a lovely chap and a tragic waste. RIP.

I drove past Jason McIntyre's ghost bike at the weekend. Given that I've recently been subject to a road rage hit and run, my gf just burst into tears.

They have a big impact and I don't think anyone with any intelligence can fail to know instantly what they represent.

I still can't decide if they are a good thing or not.

Jay dubbleU

Anything that makes drivers think can't be bad

gb155

Really does make you think !

attica

I think it's a very poigniant tribute and if it does make drivers not just think but act then it can't be a bad thing.

Gulp, I can't help noticing that a lot of them were the same age as me.

lost_in_thought

I struggle with Ghost Bikes a bit.

I can see how they're a good idea, make drivers and cyclists think etc., but there's something I can't put my finger on that annoys me about them.

Note: I am aware that this is a bit silly. :oops:

Slow Downcp

Whilst it's nice as a tribute, it also acts as a distraction to road users which in turn could lead to a further accident.

always_tyred

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with Ghost Bikes a bit.

Note: I am aware that this is a bit silly. :oops:

Why is it silly?

Jamey

I like ghost bikes but I do think they automatically make people think the cyclist was a victim who was doing nothing wrong when the truth is that every case is different and it may be that the cyclist was at fault.

I don't like generalising these things as there's often a complex series of events that leads up to them. As long as people remember that when looking at the ghost bikes I'm fine with them.

The Chingford Skinhead

Slow Downcp wrote:

Whilst it's nice as a tribute, it also acts as a distraction to road users which in turn could lead to a further accident.

The “distraction” argument is completely bogus – the speed freaks even argue that speed cameras are a distraction as motorists have to focus on their speedo rather than the road FFS. If there is a real risk of drivers being distracted then far better to focus on ghost bikes to remind them to reduce speed and get rid of all the intentionally distracting advertising bill-boards at road junctions.

schlepcycling

Do drivers even know what they represent? aren't they more likely to think that some has just abandoned a bike at the side of a road.

iain_j

schlepcycling wrote:

Do drivers even know what they represent? aren't they more likely to think that some has just abandoned a bike at the side of a road.

That's what I thought. How prominent is the notice that it's a memorial to a cyclist?

always_tyred

iain_j wrote:

schlepcycling wrote:

Do drivers even know what they represent? aren't they more likely to think that some has just abandoned a bike at the side of a road.

That's what I thought. How prominent is the notice that it's a memorial to a cyclist?

I understand that in some places they represent an accident, an not necessarily a fatality. However, the one I saw was at the site of a fatality and it was an extremely evokative and powerful message.

Really, there's no mistaking the intention and they are quite clearly not simply an abandoned bike. Typically, they are elevated, covered in flowers, with a small sign on them and painted entirely white. Come on now.

Even Sun readers are presumed able to comprehend the meaning.

ride_whenever

I like them, there was one is oxford for the student who collided with a lorry and died on broad street.

Very poigniant, but i doubt many people actually get them...

lost_in_thought

Always Tyred wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with Ghost Bikes a bit.

Note: I am aware that this is a bit silly. :oops:

Why is it silly?

Because I don't give a good reason.

always_tyred

lost_in_thought wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with Ghost Bikes a bit.

Note: I am aware that this is a bit silly. :oops:

Why is it silly?

Because I don't give a good reason.

I don't think you need a good reason. Its about inducing an emotional response. I understand why, I understand the pros and cons, but I don't experience quite what I think I should experience when I see a picture of one or a real one (only once, so far). I don't quite know why either.

Littigator

ride_whenever wrote:

I like them, there was one is oxford for the student who collided with a lorry and died on broad street.

Very poigniant, but i doubt many people actually get them...

Well hopefully having white van man's favourite national run an article on them might change that eh?!

Hey Jax

I'd never heard of this until this thread (thanks wpddoolan)
and it seems a thought provoking idea.
you often see floral tributes to where pedestrians have died in road accidents, and they make you think as you pass by.

if people "don't get them," they may at least ask/discuss them with others and eventually it would become more known, especially if they increase the amount of ghost bikes.

I haven't seen any on my routes up North...
has anyone else seen any?

the_hundredth_idiot

lost_in_thought wrote:

I struggle with Ghost Bikes a bit.

I can see how they're a good idea, make drivers and cyclists think etc., but there's something I can't put my finger on that annoys me about them.

Note: I am aware that this is a bit silly. :oops:

+1

I can see why friends and family of the dead cyclist might do it but it feels mawkish to me. A bit like the masses of flowers left at Kensington Palace when Princess Diana died. :roll:

I think I'd rather any memorial to me celebrated and remembered my life, not my death. Perhaps at some place that reminded friends and family of good times not bad. I always quite like the benches you see in local parks which have a plaque on them commemorating some local nobody (counting myself in the nobody category) - they make me smile (in, I hope, a nice way) as I can almost picture the remembered person sat there enjoying watching their children and then grandchildren grow up and the seasons go by.

Accepted that the whole point here is that the person remembered by the ghost bike hasn't had the opportunity to grow old but the point still stands - remember the life not the death.