Ghost Bikes

Ghost Bikes are memorials to cyclists who are killed or injured while on the street, primarily erected by other cyclists. While the purpose is to memorialize the rider, it also serves as a striking reminder to both cyclists and drivers to conduct themselves carefully on the road. Ghost bikes are painted white and locked to an object such as a street lamp or stop sign, near the site where they died.

Usually within one week of a cyclist’s dying in the saddle, a bicycle is donated or salvaged and covered with three coats of white paint. Often members of the project will gather for a memorial ride to the accident site. A short ceremony will conclude with a “bike lift,” a cyclist send-off in which mourners raise their bikes above their heads and are silent. The victim is rarely known to the cycling community, but the memorials often serve as congregating places for members of bicycle-advocacy groups like Time’s Up! and Transportation Alternatives.

"When we make ghost bikes, we tap into the hurt of the world. Each person is part of the soul of their city. These stories can make headlines one day and are forgotten the next - we try to make the city remember. We choose to honour that stranger we know could just as easily be our friend, our sister, our own self. That choice makes us whole."

Ghost bikes began appearing in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003, and have since spread to other largely urban areas in North America including Edmonton, Toronto, New York, Wisconsin, Seattle, Chicago, Washington D.C., Kansas City,, Europe, in Vienna, Prague, London,, in Brazil,, and in Hobart, Australia.