ghostly bicycles around town

Quoted message said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white (ghostly)

painted bicycles around that are chained to phone polls and
such with signs on them that say cyclist hit here and so on.

That would creep me out. Drive on rural roads in Mexico
and you see little wooden crosses along the way where
people have died in accidents. Aren't there better ways
to encourage safety than to create roadside distractions
like this?

(TopCounsel) said:

That would creep me out. Drive on rural roads in Mexico
and you see little wooden crosses along the way where
people have died in accidents. Aren't there better ways
to encourage safety than to create roadside distractions
like this?

Here in Rhode Island, little wooden crosses are common. They
are often festooned with flowers, notes, and so forth. The
new thing, though, is putting out wrecked cars with signs
about drunk driving...very much analogous to the bike
example concerned in this thread.

There's also some monuments.

Personally, I don't think they are a big issue as
distractions, and I do think they are a nice way to
remind people.
--
Rick Onanian

curt said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white (ghostly) painted bicycles around that are
chained to phone polls and such with signs on them that
say cyclist hit here and so on. The whole bike is painted,
tires and all. I was wondering is this only in Pittsburgh?
I sort of like them because they make drivers aware of us,
but they are a sad reminder and kind of eerie.

Curt

It actually started in St. Louis and was later brought to
Pittsburgh. You can read a Post Gazette article here:

post-gazette.com322514.stmOpen ↗

They also have a website at ghostbike.orgghostbike.orgOpen ↗ but
their choice of background is rather rough on the eyes.

- khill

TopCounsel said:

Quoted message said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white (ghostly)

painted bicycles around that are chained to phone polls
and such with signs on them that say cyclist hit here
and so on.

That would creep me out. Drive on rural roads in Mexico
and you see little wooden crosses along the way where
people have died in accidents. Aren't there better ways
to encourage safety than to create roadside distractions
like this?

The roadside crosses are important because they aren't just
warnings, they're shrines. In Mexico its a tradition to
place a shrine where someone died.

More importantly, I think the roadside crosses they have a
great effect on people. When I've been driving down some
desert roads, I usually notice the driver easing on the gas
and relaxing a bit, even if it's me.

Incidentally, I saw a Star of David once.

(TopCounsel) said:

That would creep me out. Drive on rural roads in Mexico
and you see little wooden crosses along the way where
people have died in accidents. Aren't there better ways
to encourage safety than to create roadside distractions
like this?

My son's college roommate pointed out one difference
between Minnesota and Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, if there's
a fatal automobile crash, someone puts up a wooden cross
with a wreath of flowers. In Minnesota, someone puts up a
stop sign.

Wow, thanks. That is what I have been seeing.
Interesting idea.

Curt

"khill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:97de1$40bfcbd-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

curt said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white (ghostly) painted bicycles around that are
chained to phone polls and

such

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

with signs on them that say cyclist hit here and so on.
The whole bike

is

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

painted, tires and all. I was wondering is this only in
Pittsburgh? I

sort

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

of like them because they make drivers aware of us, but
they are a sad reminder and kind of eerie.

Curt

It actually started in St. Louis and was later brought to
Pittsburgh. You can read a Post Gazette article here:

post-gazette.com322514.stmOpen ↗

They also have a website at ghostbike.orgghostbike.orgOpen ↗ but
their choice of background is rather rough on the eyes.

- khill

I see the crosses here to.

Curt

"TopCounsel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:20040603201829.29519.00000393@mb-
m05.aol.com...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white

(ghostly)

Quoted message said:

painted bicycles around that are chained to phone polls
and such with

signs on

Quoted message said:

them that say cyclist hit here and so on.

That would creep me out. Drive on rural roads in Mexico
and you see

little

Quoted message said:

wooden crosses along the way where people have died in
accidents. Aren't

there

Quoted message said:

better ways to encourage safety than to create roadside
distractions like

this?

Quoted message said:

I see the crosses here to.

Don't get carried away, we don't die all that often.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY
MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------ __________306.350.357.38-

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

[email hidden]__________

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Curt
I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white (ghostly) painted bicycles around that are
chained to phone polls and such with signs on them that say
cyclist hit here and so on. The whole bike is painted, tires
and all. I was wondering is this only in Pittsburgh? I sort
of like them because they make drivers aware of us, but they
are a sad reminder and kind of eerie.

Curt

Does this really make drivers more aware of cyclist or just scare off cyclists from riding on the road? If they did this in my area I'm sure my wife and family would start chastising me because the roads are too dangerous for bikes.

Dan.

"BanditManDan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Curt said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white (ghostly) painted bicycles around that
are chained to phone polls and such with signs on them
that say cyclist hit here and so on. The whole bike is
painted, tires and all. I was wondering is this only
in Pittsburgh? I sort of like them because they make
drivers aware of us, but they are a sad reminder and
kind of eerie. Curt

Does this really make drivers more aware of cyclist or
just scare off cyclists from riding on the road? If they
did this in my area I'm sure my wife and family would
start chastising me because the roads are too dangerous
for bikes.

Dan.

Good question. I don't know, but I would suspect a little of
each. When I see them I do get a little weirded out by it,
but I think car drivers see them and maybe it plants a
seed...not sure. They are a scary color. Really ghostly and
it makes quite an impression. Pittsburgh is a tough place to
ride a bicycle if you need to get some places, but there are
some trail systems getting in place and that helps if you
need to get cross town. Wish there were more trails around..
I am trying to ride mine in place of a car and sometimes it
is pretty wild out there. I am glad I am riding my mountain
bike for this type of thing and ride my road bike on the
weekends for long rides.

Curt

"Eric S. Sande" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I see the crosses here to.

Don't get carried away, we don't die all that often.

It does have an effect, but I am just a careful cyclist,
or try to be. I have mixed feelings over the ghost
cycles around.

Curt

BanditManDan said:

Curt said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white (ghostly) painted bicycles around that
are chained to phone polls and such with signs on them
that say cyclist hit here and so on. The whole bike is
painted, tires and all. I was wondering is this only
in Pittsburgh? I sort of like them because they make
drivers aware of us, but they are a sad reminder and
kind of eerie.

Does this really make drivers more aware of cyclist or
just scare off cyclists from riding on the road? If they
did this in my area I'm sure my wife and family would
start chastising me because the roads are too dangerous
for bikes.

I'm afraid that is exactly what would happen in many
households. The only way to have the desired effect would be
to have a unique designation for each kind of traffic death
- a wrecked car for car-only, a statue of a pedestrian for a
run-down pedestrian, etc.

If that were done, then the bicycles wouldn't even get
noticed because there would be so few (comparatively).

Austin
--
I'm pedaling as fast as I durn well please! There are no X
characters in my address

TopCounsel said:

Quoted message said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are
silvery/white (ghostly)

painted bicycles around that are chained to phone polls
and such with signs on them that say cyclist hit here
and so on.

That would creep me out. Drive on rural roads in Mexico
and you see little wooden crosses along the way where
people have died in accidents. Aren't there better ways
to encourage safety than to create roadside distractions
like this?

One sees such memorials in Germany too. They seemed to be
everywhere in Wurtemburg when I was there (1980's).

"TopCounsel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I live in Pittsburgh, PA and around the city there are

silvery/white (ghostly)

Quoted message said:

painted bicycles around that are chained to phone polls
and such

with signs on

Quoted message said:

them that say cyclist hit here and so on.

Has that resulted in cycling increasing, or decreasing?

Has it resulted ion the perception that anyone who cycles
must be a foolhardy idiot?

Perhpas we need crosses wherever somebody has had a
heart attack

Jeremy Parker

AustinMN said:

BanditManDan said:

Does this really make drivers more aware of cyclist or
just scare off cyclists from riding on the road? If they
did this in my area I'm sure my wife and family would
start chastising me because the roads are too dangerous
for bikes.

I'm sure they're scaring some people away from cycling. And
I'm continually amazed that dedicated cyclists go to such
efforts to make cycling sound dangerous. How foolish!

Quoted message said:

I'm afraid that is exactly what would happen in many
households. The only way to have the desired effect would
be to have a unique designation for each kind of traffic
death - a wrecked car for car-only, a statue of a
pedestrian for a run-down pedestrian, etc.

If that were done, then the bicycles wouldn't even get
noticed because there would be so few (comparatively).

Well, this group is making up for the lack of cycling
fatalities by putting out _extra_ bikes that have nothing to
do with fatalities.

In other words, make people think there are more fatalities
than there are. Wonderful. :-/

Quoting from post-gazette.com322514.stmOpen ↗

"Quartuccio said the group compiled information about
accident sites, coming up with more than 14. They allocated
the bicycles first to places where fatal accidents had
occurred -- such as the 4100 block of Irvine Street in
Hazelwood, where Robert Hemelrick, 32, of Hazelwood, was
struck and killed Jan. 27 -- and then to sites where their
members had been hit.

They followed that with places thought to be the most
visible."

--
--------------------+ Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove
rodent and vegetable dot com, replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

Frank Krygowski <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Well, this group is making up for the lack of cycling
fatalities by putting out _extra_ bikes that have nothing
to do with fatalities.

In other words, make people think there are more
fatalities than there are. Wonderful. :-/

Quoting from post-post-Open ↗
gazette.com/pg/04148/322514.stm

"Quartuccio said the group compiled information about
accident sites, coming up with more than 14. They
allocated the bicycles first to places where fatal
accidents had occurred -- such as the 4100 block of Irvine
Street in Hazelwood, where Robert Hemelrick, 32, of
Hazelwood, was struck and killed Jan. 27 -- and then to
sites where their members had been hit.

They followed that with places thought to be the most
visible."

Frank,

Maybe you understand the context of the bit you're quoting
here, but to those who haven't read the whole article I
think it can be a bit misleading.

In the first place, the whole idea of the ghost bike project
is to put the ghost bikes in places where there have been
motor vehicle-bicycle collisions of ANY sort, not just
fatalities.

For more about the white bikes see: confluencewe-confluencewe-Open ↗
b.org/article.asp?articleID=174&page=1
pbase.combrokenbikesOpen ↗

Second, what you say plus the quotation you use could lead
the unsuspecting reader to the conclusion that they are just
putting up the bikes in random places because they had more
bikes than collision spots.

In fact, the situation was just the reverse. They had more
collision spots than bicycles to place. So after placing
bicycles where fatalities had happened and where bicycle
club members had been hit (but not killed), they then
selected **from among the remaining places where collisions
had occurred** the ones they thought would have greatest
visibility.

Here's a more complete quote from the article that puts the
bit you quoted (above) into a somewhat different context:

---
After getting the word out through conversations and the
Internet, Ghost Bike Pittsburgh received as donations 14
broken bicycles destined for the scrap heap.

The group smashed the bikes, slathered them with white
house paint and "deployed" them Monday between about 9:30
p.m. and midnight.

Quartuccio said the group compiled information about
accident sites, coming up with more than 14. They allocated
the bicycles first to places where fatal accidents had
occurred -- such as the 4100 block of Irvine Street in
Hazelwood, where Robert Hemelrick, 32, of Hazelwood, was
struck and killed Jan. 27 -- and then to sites where their
members had been hit.

They followed that with places thought to be the most
visible.
---

--Brent bhugh [at] mwsc.edu

Brent Hugh said:

Frank,

Maybe you understand the context of the bit you're quoting
here, but to those who haven't read the whole article I
think it can be a bit misleading.

In the first place, the whole idea of the ghost bike
project is to put the ghost bikes in places where there
have been motor vehicle-bicycle collisions of ANY sort,
not just fatalities.

Hmm. OK, on re-reading, I now see that.

I still wonder about the ultimate effect of this effort.
Will it do more to encourage cooperative driving, or will it
do more to confirm what's already in so many minds: "Damn -
bicycling's dangerous. I'm not getting on a bike. And let my
kid ride a bike? Forget it!"

As Austin said, maybe we need similar monuments for other
road users - but not just fatalities. A pedestrian statue
everywhere a pedestrian got injured. A car statue everywhere
a motorist got injured.

The city would soon be clogged with statues, and only a
small percentage would be bikes.

An unintended benefit: All the car and ped statues would
provide artistic traffic calming!

--
--------------------+ Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove
rodent and vegetable dot com, replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

Curt, I am a reporter doing a story on ghostbikes. Please
contact me via email if you could help. I just want to talk
to a Pittsburgh cyclist. I'm wrapping this up Tuesday.