On a frosty April Saturday night, Kevin Daloia had taken a bike that he had painted white and attached it to a pole at East 161st Street and Melrose Avenue in the Bronx. Then, he climbed on top of it, stood on its seat and fixed a metal sign above it on the pole. “Cyclist Killed Here/Rest In Peace,” was what the sign stated.
Thierno Balde who was a cyclist was hit by a car on Feb 23 while coming home from prayers at his mosque. According to repo rts the driver fled right after the crash before ditching behind him in crumpled Jeep Grand Cherokee several blocks away. The police said Balde ran through red light but they also said that driver had been driving too fast. It did not matter if Daloia knew or didn’t know balde.
Daloia spends his leisure time volunteering for New York City Street Memorial Project where he paints old bicycles and hangs them as “ghost bikes” on poles around the city at spots where they died. The bikes are completely white- even tires, spokes and pedals – which make them striking memorials for one thing they signal that someone was killed here by cycling and serve as constant reminders of how unsafe it is to be riding a bicycle in new York roads.The activistshope to catch the attention of drivers as well.
I don’t know exactly how many times I’ve done this,” Daloia said.“Anything in the Bronx I’ve touched, and I’ve touched a lot more throughout the city. I don’t know man’s number.Probably 20 or 25?” Last year saw more deaths of cyclists in New York than any other since 1999. According to department of transportation report there were thirty deaths among cyclists in 2023. Of those, twenty-three were on e-bikes.Most fatalities oc curred when cars and trucks crashed into bicycles on streets without bike lanes.
The Visual Resistance, a group of artists in New York, first put up ghost bikes in 2005 after a couple of cyclist deaths. “This was supposed to be more powerful than words,” said another volunteer LeahTodd. “A silent but very communicative memorial.” This idea caught on and has been gaining popularity ever since. “We had some grand idea and hope that people would want to care — and want to limit these deaths.”
Donated bicycles are received by Ghost bike volunteers from friends, word of mouth or white bike shops. In order for the bikes that they have hanged not to be stolen, several important parts are taken out thus rendering them un-ridable. However, installation of ghost bikes by volunteers is not only anti-car because cyclist’s fatalities mostly result from car crashes while Daloia describes himself as a cycling traffic safety advocate who starts his car every day. He thinks cars should share the road with people and bicycles. “I want some of the roads around here to be safer for pedestrians and cyclists”.
