(Photo: Sent in by reader)
In the past few days I’ve heard from two readers concerned that a ghost bike in the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood would be removed by the City of Portland. “I know there is a ton going on right now and this probably not high on most everyone’s list of important things,” the reader shared. “But it is a memorial.”
Ghost bikes are memorials that spring up at intersections after a bicycle rider is involved in a fatal traffic crash. They’re meant to remind the community of the tragedy and encourage people to use streets with greater awareness of the deadly consequences that could result from their actions.
The ghost bike on Southeast Cesar Chavez Boulevard and Gladstone was installed for 22-year-old Mark Angeles. In May 2015, Angeles was biking on Gladstone and died after he collided with the driver of a truck as he attempted to turn onto Cesar Chavez.
Advertisement
Readers alerted me of yellow tags currently attached to the bike. “The Bicycle Appears Abandoned” reads the tag, accompanied by an official City of Portland seal and reference to city code (16.70.320) that states a bicycle may be removed if left unattended for 72 hours. The Portland Bureau of Transportation has an abandoned bike program where staffers will tag and remove bikes they become aware of. Most bikes are flagged from public complaints that can take the form of an email to PBOT or via an online form.
This isn’t the first time we’ve reported on this particular bike. Just six days after the Angeles tragedy his ghost bike was hit and heavily damaged by a reckless driver.
The bike was due to be removed this morning.
When contacted about the abandoned bike tag this morning, PBOT said it was, “an internal miscommunication.” “We will be removing the abandoned bike tag and the ghost bike will stay.”
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
— Get our headlines delivered to your inbox.
— Support this independent community media outlet with a one-time contribution or monthly subscription.
This does raise an interesting question (which I am not expressing any opinion on): how long should a ghost bike memorial remain in place? This one is about 5 years old.
In my experience, they tend to run their course and eventually disappear. Even families who have maintained them for lost lost loved ones eventually seem to move on (from the bike, not the tragedy) and then the road authority will remove it. Personally I’m not a fan of “these must never be moved! ever!” vibe. I see them as more ephemeral. But every case is different. Defer to families/friends first. If they want it, it should stay (barring any major impediment to other road users or other extenuating safety/access issues). In this case, the fact that I hear from two separate people within hours/days of the tag going on make me feel like this one should not be removed yet.
Right!? 12 years is a heck of a learning curve… Rest In Peace, Tracey Sparling
That looks more like a Chevy Sonic…but I digress.
There seems to be some confusion about bike boxes in general…even among cyclists. I think BP did an article to that effect as well about cyclists not taking up the box. And apparently we allow motorists to make right on reds, when a bike is present. I feel we should set strong guidelines here and make it part of getting a driver’s license in the state so drivers are more aware of this infrastructure.
It clearly doesn’t excuse the driver for going into a clearly-marked painted area though. I hope I’m not conveying anything like that.
Ahh I was going off a City of Guelph Youtube video on bikeboxes. It’s seems like in Guelph (Ontario? Canada?) it’s legal to make right on red through a bike box…something that shouldn’t be allowed in general.
I hope North America develops consistent rules on this…and glad PBOT wisely banned right on reds.
Correct. Bike boxes always include no turn on red. And it’s incorrect to imply they’re not working correctly if bikes don’t use the whole box. The point is to get bikes out in front and more visible on a red. It works whether or not bikes are directly in front of cars or over to the side.
Hi Momo,
To a couple of your points:
” Bike boxes always include no turn on red.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tWZseg5QHA
While it seems like PBOT (I think correctly) prevents right on red when a bikebox is present, this instructional video from the City of Guelph suggests that they allow it. Personally, I agree with the PBOT rule (I didn’t know if it was standard practice in Portland to disallow right on reds at bike boxes) but it clearly seems that there is conflicting information on the subject. As always, follow the local regulations, and there’s no excuse for missing an obvious “no right on red” sign.
“And it’s incorrect to imply they’re not working correctly if bikes don’t use the whole box”
I was simply going off this old BP article where it at least suggested there is some ambiguity on this issue: https://bikeportland.org/2017/10/25/lets-talk-about-bike-boxes-249065
I’ve found some of the bike infrastructure to be a little confusing and go against some of my intuition, and am happy to be better educated on proper procedures. I’d also advocate we standardize bike infrastructure and rules so we can clearly point out driver transgressions.
>>> The point is to get bikes out in front and more visible on a red. It works whether or not bikes are directly in front of cars or over to the side. <<<
But if the front rider blocks riders behind them from reaching the bike box, they'll be stuck in a less-visible position. If you can't bear to enter the bike box yourself, please at least make room for those behind you to do so.
alternate interpretation is that the signal just changed and neither the second car nor the pedestrian have reacted yet.
They could have been waiting for something.
The issue for me here – there is nearly a car length of space between the 2 vehicles. Either the second car gave the first car plenty of room, or the first one pulled away (1 car length is like 1 second) and hasn’t accelerated yet. If that is the situation, it makes sense the pedestrian is flat footed – they might not have been sprinting across the road or reacted as quickly as the lead driver.
There are too many uncertainties and possibilities to assume the driver simply parked in the green box.
My interpretation was the rear driver was giving the front driver room to back up out of the bike box.
That bike has been there since I moved here in 2005.
No it hasn’t, I painted that bike and placed it there in 2015 after the first one was hit.
Just seeing this article but I painted and placed that bike there after the first one was hit. The paint job is kind of crappy because ironically the bike was stolen and recovered by my neighbor while the paint was drying. Anyway I’m glad to see PBOT isn’t removing it, I didn’t know Mark but his death was an absolute tragedy and his bike serves not only as a memorial but a reminder to us all that even following all the “rules” set out by car culture we are still vulnerable.