Painted in immaculate white, decorated with brightly colored flowers, these ghost bikes left at the side of the roads are a call to remember.
These places of memory, which are springing up all over the country, are erected to pay tribute to cyclists killed on the roads by motorists.
Last January, it was in Seine-Saint-Denis that a
“ghost bike”
was left in memory of Aneymone, a 38-year-old cyclist, who died in December 2023, hit by a truck.
A few months earlier, two ghost bikes were erected in Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique).
The first in October 2023 after the death of a man in his seventies, hit by a police car.
The second in July 2023 in memory of Jules, 21, hit by a motorist.
This phenomenon, directly imported from the United States, dates back to the early 2000s. The first
“ghost bike”
was filed in Saint-Louis, Missouri, in October 2003. After seeing a motorist knock down a cyclist, Patrick Van Der Tuin, a resident of Saint-Louis, decided to place a bicycle painted white at this location, with a sign bearing the words
“Cyclist struck here” , reported the daily
St Louis Today
at the time
.
Noting the multiple reactions of motorists in the region, oscillating between incomprehension and anger, Patrick Van Der Tuin then placed fifteen other ghost bikes in Saint-Louis where cyclists had been hit by cars, as reported by the American media.
A militant tribute
Since then, according to a count made in 2018 by an American association of cyclists called
“GhostBikes.org”
, there have been 630 ghost bikes erected in 210 locations around the world.
Figures that are difficult to verify since these ghost bikes are not intended to remain in public spaces in the long term.
Many have been withdrawn and many collectives are struggling to keep their accounts up to date.
In France, the phenomenon of the
“ghost bike”
was especially publicized in April 2019, when a white bicycle was left at the corner of the Quai d'Orsay and the Pont de la Concorde in Paris, to commemorate the death of 'Armelle Cizeron, a parliamentary assistant mowed down by a truck, in front of the National Assembly, in 2018.
"This death is a textbook case"
, points out Aymeric Cotard of the Better Travel by Bicycle association IDF (MDB).
“There was no planning at this location, we knew an accident was going to happen.
Thanks to the mobilization of associations, the Paris town hall built a cycle path,”
he continues
.
The ghost bike has since been retired.
Because the very principle of the white bike, in addition to paying tribute to the deceased, is to warn of road insecurity.
So, the white bikes remain installed while the town hall makes the requested adjustments.
Sometimes, when this is not the case, the bike is removed, with the family's agreement, after a year.
The associations then try to keep it in their premises,
“to display it in memory
,” underlines Olivier Schneider, president of the Federation of Bicycle Users.
Chilling municipalities
These tributes, organized by associations, can respond to several scenarios.
“Either the relatives of the deceased ask us directly to organize a tribute, or it is the associations which contact the families when a death is reported to them
,” explains Aymeric Cotard.
Then, the associations try to obtain agreement from the municipality for the organization of the tribute.
“The municipalities give their agreement in principle but they are rarely happy to do so because these tributes point out their lack of arrangements for the safety of cyclists
,” affirms Olivier Schneider.
In fact, standoffs can sometimes arise between a town hall and cycling associations.
This is what happened in 2020 in Caluire-et-Cuire, a town in the metropolis of Lyon, where municipal services removed a ghost bike three times, installed at an intersection in the city by the La Ville à Vélo association.
The town of Caluire, whose mayor is the Republican Philippe Cochet, confirmed that the removal of the ghost bike had been made by the municipal police for
“security reasons”
.
“The bike was parked on a bend, with a silhouette on it, it was particularly dangerous,”
specifies the municipality.
Furthermore, no official request to occupy public space had been made.
“It is possible to have a symbol, but not there, not in this place, it is not possible
,” replied the city.
Also read: How 100% cycling is establishing itself in the heart of cities
“Cyclists are not legitimate on the road”
The fact remains that these ghost bikes have a strong symbolism for the relatives of the victims, who often engrave an epitaph on them.
“Thanks to the white bike, we no longer feel alone in the darkness of mourning
,” says Anaïs who lost her friend Emma, 24, struck down by a truck in July 2021 in Boulogne-Billancourt.
“This type of tribute is a moment of dignity for victims who are often quickly forgotten
,” she continues.
The white bike, dropped off in 2022, is still installed at the accident site.
The MDB association is campaigning to make this Hauts-de-Seine crossroads less dangerous.
“Even today, cyclists are not legitimate on the road,
” laments Aymeric Cotard
.
However, road deaths are not inevitable.”
“We are trying to create electroshocks with this type of tribute. Above all, we hope that the honored death will be the last,”
punctuates Olivier Schneider.
The use of bicycles on French roads increased by another 5% in 2023, particularly in urban areas (+6%), according to a barometer published in January 2024 by the Vélo & Territoires association, with the support of Ademe and the Ministry of Transport.
For the third year in a row, the number of cyclists killed has once again exceeded the threshold of 200 deaths with 226 deaths in 2023.