Ghost bike
Originally uploaded by joellaflickr.
I saw this bike a few weeks ago, but I only found out why it's there when I saw Damian's photo of it.
It's a ghost bike, left as a memorial to the 22 year old cyclist who was killed following a collision with a lorry at this junction a few months ago.
Is this street art? Whatever it is, it's brilliant. I can think of at least two more people who have died in places I cycle past regularly -- the YHA near the train station, and the Elm Tree on Cowley Road -- who should have a ghost bike too. The first I just read about, the second I came closer to than I like to remember. But remembering is important.
joella
3 comments:
Fuck.
I've literally *just* finished dealing with my most recent road collision by laughing about it on my blog. The other alternative was too frightening for me to deal with.
Really...I wonder how much longer I will be able to keep riding with indifferent, unpredictable and often agressive tonnes of metal on each side, content in my bubble of pretend bravery, ignoring the law of averages that points its fingers at the facts with more and more people each day...
Thanks for posting this J.
Hmmm yes... there is a section of 'B road dual carriageway just past Stretford Arndale where the cycle track suddenly veers into the middle of the road leaving the unsuspecting peddler between two lanes of angry rush hour traffic and at the mercy of any absent minded commuter executing a lane-change without proper recourse to the wing-mirrors... I am always quite relieved to get past that bit and will be doing so with white bicycles in mind tomorrow morning, for sure....
I got back onto a bike after several years off, and have been pedalling around the country lanes. The worrying thing is that even the designated cycleways in the country are dangerous now; there are large 4x4's hurtling through the lanes sometimes brushing the hedges on both sides at the same time, and they're not going to hear a little ting of a bike bell, are they?
I think it's time the government had an awareness campaign for cyclists on the TV. They did it for motorcyclists a few months ago.
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