A monument erected at Boston University to honor the victim of a fatal bicycle accident has become known as the “ghost bike” because of its white color and what it stands for. Christopher Weigl was a 23-year-old graduate student at Boston University who was killed in a collision involving a commercial truck near campus on December 6.
Monuments like this are used to mark the spots where a cyclist has been killed in a collision with a motorist. The ghost bikes first began to appear in St. Louis in 2003 following a bike accident, and there are currently over 500 around the world.
“It could have been black, which would have been obvious, but white is sort of more honorific somehow,” said Eric Grunwald, an employee at Boston University. “It’s like a statement as much as a memorial, that something needs to be done. On both sides, I think, the cars and the bikes haven’t learned yet how to live with each other in Boston.”
These ghost bikes are a good way to honor the deceased cyclists and also serve as a reminder to cyclists and motorists.
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Bonnici Law Group, APC—San Diego wrongful death lawyer.