Crashing the crash scene
The Houston St. area apparently isn’t even safe for the memorials to cyclists killed there. A cab crashed Saturday into a memorial bike placed on the sidewalk to honor Andrew Ross Morgan, 25, who was killed by a truck at the same spot last month while biking to work. The cab collided with another taxi at Houston and Elizabeth Sts. and then the cabs hit a parked car, knocked over a motorcycle and plowed through a no parking sign with the locked memorial bike placed by a group called Visual Resistance. One taxi passenger reportedly suffered minor injuries and two bar customers outside Tom & Jerry’s on Elizabeth St. were nearly hit. One factor that may have contributed to both accidents is that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is working on a subway ventilation project on Houston St. between the Bowery and Elizabeth St., which has taken a traffic lane away on either side of the major cross-town artery and caused decreased visibility in the intersection for turning traffic. Cyclist Brandie Bailey, 21, was killed on Houston St. in May.
The good people at a nearby bar took in the bike so that it could be put back. We got in touch with them and replaced the bike and plaque Fridy afternoon. The memorial is back up just a few feet from its original location. As of this writing, all three ghost bikes are still in place. Thanks for everyone who has paid their respects at the memorial sites with flowers and messages. And thanks most especially to the friends and family members of Andrew Morgan and Liz Padilla who have contacted us since we started this project. Your support means the world to us.
As an avid bicyclist living in Japan (a country with very narrow roads, no sidewalks, no bicycle lanes, and too much car traffic), I nearly cringe every time a car goes by me, or every time I have to pass (read: literally circumvent by swerving into oncoming traffic) by clueless school children (aged anywhere from 10 to 18) in my own car, who ride abreast each other on busy streets. Japan is a wonderful country, but it could do with some real “commonsense” memorials like the Ghost Bikes. Kudos to Visual Resistance.
Made in DNA
Those ghost bikes a good way to encourage people to drive in the safety of their cars, and to scare young children away from the idea of riding their bikes. Goood work, fellas!!!
Thank you guys so much for putting Andrew Morgan’s bike back up… When I saw weeks ago it wasn’t there I was so upset thinking the police took it… I can’t tell you how much it means to me (as an avid cyclist just waiting to die) that it’s back.
Thank you for putting Andy’s bike back up and for keeping the memorial to the great person that he was. Our family continues to l grieve his senseless loss.He really was an unbelievable person. How
could Houston street be recommended for cyclists? It was/is dangerous! Recently, here in Austin, another sweet, young man was killed on his bike by a hit and
run,drunk driver only a few blocks from here, and a ghost bike and memorial now remind hundreds of people a day of the fragility of life and of Johnny Smythe’s life in
particular. Why can ‘t there just be huge, wonderful, safe sidewalks for bikes and walkers? If the sidewalks were generous enough, surely both would be safe from cars.