In the 65th Street traverse in Central Park, a white bicycle, decorated with a prayer flag and a string of beads, is chained to a signpost. A plaque on the front dedicates the bike to “Eve,” a cyclist who was killed by a car there in 2006.
This memorial is one of nearly 50 “ghost bikes” that volunteers have installed across all five boroughs since 2005.
Since 2007, the New York City Street Memorial Project—a volunteer organization that commemorates cyclist and pedestrian deaths—has overseen installation of the bikes. According to their Web site, the organization’s Ghost Bike Project is part of a widespread effort to recognize bicyclists who have died in crashes. The project’s Web site—ghostbikes.org—provides maps, pictures, and stories of ghost bikes from around the world.
Ghost bikes are usually installed soon after a fatal crash occurs, and the memorials are maintained by the victim’s family or by community members. At the end of each year, an additional ghost bike is dedicated to those cyclists whose identities are unknown.
The Street Memorial Project also holds an annual memorial bike ride to honor those who have died within the past year. The next ride, scheduled for Jan. 4, will pass by Columbia’s campus in memory of a cyclist who died at Frederick Douglass Circle in early October.
Ellen Belcher, a doctoral candidate at Columbia and a graduate of the School of Library Service, has been biking to Columbia since 1989. She said that while biking conditions have greatly improved over time, traffic circles remain particularly dangerous for cyclists. The purpose of the ride, she said, is to “assert our right to the road.”
According to the Department of Transportation and New York Police Department, 23 cyclists were killed in 2007. On its Web site, the Ghost Bike Project writes that they hope to not only call attention to the dangers of bicycling in New York and inspire policy changes, but also to “incite more humanity in this city” and create a place of mourning and support.
The Ghost Bike Project seeks a “change in culture” on the streets, aiming to inspire both drivers and bikers to share responsibility in looking out for one another on the road. While lights and helmets can increase individual safety, more conscientious driving behavior would significantly decrease the number of accidents. Volunteers also call for stricter traffic law enforcement by the NYPD to protect bikers.
“Every single one of these crashes didn’t have to happen,” Leah Todd, CC ‘04 and a volunteer at the Street Memorial Project, said.
Despite the danger, the number of cyclists in the city is increasing. The presence of ghost bikes has not detracted from the growing popularity of bicycling, Todd said.
Todd also noted that “the safest thing to do is to get more cyclists on the street” because a larger numbers of cyclists will force motorists to be more aware and respectful of their presence.
Volunteers with the project hope that fatality rates will decline with an increased cyclist presence, eventually rendering their work unnecessary. In a statement on their Web site, volunteers wrote that each time they install a ghost bike, “we say we hope to never have to do it again—but we remain committed to making these memorials as long as they are needed.”
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