Ghost bikes make me sad very sad. For at the spot was once a cyclist who was cycling along.......... and was killed more than likely by a car/lorry/etc.
I was knocked down on a roundabout 10 years ago. The micro seconds before impact when I knew I was going to be hit and there was no way out, just as on TV, the chain of events went into slow motion like a hazy dream I can still hear me scream "Don't break my legs!" then a dull thud as I was flying through the air which seemed to take an age...... and then a heavy hard immovable bang as I hit the road in the middle of the roundabout. So perhaps I can emphasize with the last moments of these deceased cyclists. I'd rather not see them but feel it is for the better that they are beginning to appear where cyclists have lost their lives. Hopefully they will become a recognised national icon. Obviously it would be better if no cyclists were killed then they wouldn't be becoming more widespread but this isn't going to happen any time soon
. Without them there would not be interest from the local press or even national press, or to remind passing drivers the vulnerability of cyclists that a cyclist was knocked down at the spot. If they prevent one further serious injury or death they have bee worthwhile. It is so often the case that without a ghost bike a cyclists death is almost erased and they ceased to exist except by those who knew them personally.
So they make me very sad. I have only ever seen one and the rest on here or in the papers. It is a sobering reminder of the risks cyclists take when venturing onto UK roads.
I would hope that if I was ever knocked down, again, and I died, that some one would remember me....... by placing a ghost bike where I spent my last moments on this earth - that I was a cyclist - killed whilst riding my bike. All those cyclists with lives taken away.......... by often selfish inattentive drivers. RIP.
Anything to stop the carnage on the roads. Of course it is not always possible to place a white ghost bike eg the two TTers killed on the A1 in Bedfordshire earlier this year. As far as I know there are no ghost bikes there. Sadly there might be a market for them - frames, bars, saddles and wheels painted up in white.
How about putting a skeleton on the bike as well to increase impact? Not a real one obviously.
A cyclist would have to be a particularly hard hearted barsteward to be against ghost bikes especially as a cyclist lost their life at the spot.
. Without them there would not be interest from the local press or even national press, or to remind passing drivers the vulnerability of cyclists that a cyclist was knocked down at the spot. If they prevent one further serious injury or death they have bee worthwhile. It is so often the case that without a ghost bike a cyclists death is almost erased and they ceased to exist except by those who knew them personally.
