Oregon Public Broadcasting

Drivers on highways are used to seeing white roadside crosses marking the places where people died in accidents. 

Now a different kind of roadside memorial is becoming more common on Northwest city streets. It’s a bicycle painted white.

They’re called "ghost bikes" -- and they commemorate cyclists killed in accidents.  KLCC's Rachael McDonald brings us the story of a ghost bike in Eugene and its connection to an international bike safety movement.

It’s hard to miss the ghost bike. Spray-painted a stark white, it catches your eye.

Ghost bike at 13th and Willamette in Eugene.

Also, there’s a placard with the words “In memory of David Minor” and the date 6/2/2008. 

Shannon Sprouse was a longtime friend of David’s. It was her idea to create a ghost bike memorial. She had heard about it from a friend in Portland. She asked some friends for help.

Shannon Sprouse: “So all of the stuff was things my friends had lying around. An old bike, a bike lock, a chain, cans of spray paint that were half used up.”

Sprouse and another friend Kelsey Laughlin took part in a memorial service that was held for Minor several nights after his death. There was a procession of a hundred co-workers, friends and family from the service to this corner.

Laughlin and Sprouse describe David as an unusual young man who was passionate about the environment, music and friendship. Both feel the ghost bike can be a reminder of David and the value of human life.

Again Kelsey Laughlin:

Kelsey Laughlin: “It’s just a thought that we all need to take more care with everything that we do and slowing down in our daily lives is very important.”

Ghost bikes are an international phenomenon. Nat Meysenburg works with the New York City Street Memorials Project.  He helps maintain the website ghostbikes.org.

Nat Meysenburg: “Our site is currently tracking over 120 ghost bike installations in cities across the world from Budapest, Hungary to Portland and Eugene to New York, Washington D.C., Sao Paolo. All over the world and all over the U.S.”

Meysenberg says the ghost bike is modeled after an installation by a St Louis artist that featured a bike spray-painted white. The first ghost bike is still on a New York City street corner. It’s been there since 2005.

Meysenberg says the bikes can have different meanings to different people. The aim is to raise awareness.

Nat Meysenburg: “We hope that that does flow into other things like policy changes, and the ways in which cycling fatalities get covered in the media and the general attitude of drivers toward cyclists.”

Lee Schoemaker would like to create more bicycle awareness in the community. He’s in charge of bicycle policy for the city of Eugene. He’s planning a new education campaign. It’s message:

Lee Shoemaker: “Looking out for each other, following the laws and just being considerate of everybody and that would go a long way towards making it safer. We also look at design. I’m trying to get funding to re-design Bailey Hill road where there was another fatality involving a young boy. So we’re trying to make the roadway a little bit safer as well as safe routes to school programs at the local schools.”

Shoemaker says the campaign is aimed especially at teen drivers. It will feature a short video on driving safety that will be broadcast in movie theaters before the trailers. He says he sees dangerous riding and driving every day.

Lee Shoemaker: “I do see wrong way bike riding downtown and I do see riding on the sidewalks which is illegal in the downtown core. But I also see a lot of motorists that don’t stop for pedestrians and don’t yield to bicyclists and those are really key things when it comes to crashes with bicyclists and pedestrians.”

When David Minor was killed, he was trying to make a left turn and failed to yield to an oncoming car. The motorist was not at fault. Still, almost daily near misses and collisions could be prevented with a little more awareness Shoemaker says.

City policy is as long as the memorial doesn’t pose a threat to right of way it can stay indefinitely. Along with the ghost bike there are several planters with colorful flowers now at the corner.

David Minor’s mother put them there. Susan Minor declined to talk to KLCC because the loss is of her son is too fresh. Here’s an excerpt from her email read by a KLCC staff member.

Susan Minor Letter: “Originally, I thought that I would never go near 13th and Willamette again, but I woke up one morning not too long after the accident and felt that I needed to see it. We went as a family and while it was understandably terribly sad, it was also a comfort to us. The flowers were beautiful, and the ghost bike was a somber and noble tribute to our son. We cry every time we are there, but we have read every note and poem, looked at everything that has been placed there, and been so grateful for those who have chosen to honor our son in this way.”

The ghost bike on 13th and Willamette may serve as a reminder for some time.