In June, I posted about Pittsburgh’s Ghost Bike project, in which activists memorialize bicyclists killed by cars. To create a ghost bike, an old bicycle is painted solid white and chained to a pole along with a sign designed to raise consciousness of passing motorists.
A couple of months ago, Matthew’s widow and I retrieved the bicycle Matthew was killed on from police storage, and discussed the possibility of making it a ghost bike. Then last week, passing through Emeryville, I discovered that someone had already put up a ghost bike at the site of Matthew’s death. Asking around, I heard it had been up for a few weeks, but still have no clear idea who set it up.
To whoever set this up: A heartfelt thank you from all of Matthew’s friends and family. I snapped a couple of images of the bike today:
(Note: This is not Matthew’s bike – I don’t know where this bike comes from. Matthew’s bike is safe in my garage, spookily undamaged, or almost).
I started my own ghostbike project in 2002 to acknowledge the deterioration of abandoned bicycles locked on the streets of San Francisco. I paint these bikes as I find them and have a website that chronicles the project: ghostbike.net
It’s very odd to learn now that there are people across the country using this same approach to commemorate bicycle/automobile accidents… and even more odd to find them in the bay. You are in Emeryville? Do you know of any other ghostbikes in the bay?
Hi Jo –
Wow, interesting. So when people see ghostbikes, they might either be memorials OR just painted abandoned bikes.
Still, I think your project is cool.
Sorry, I don’t know of any others off-hand. If I see some, I’ll contact you.