Ghost bikes will have a time limit in Ottawa

June incident on highway #7

UPDATE: This journalist has it wrong. In any situation, a bicyclist will lose with a vehicle. Rider must be vigilant and nothing will protect them except this. Seriously, bikes and trucks collide. People are hit by cars doors. You can't legislate this, and only a cyclist can practice self-defense.

Reevely: The city is totally tone-deaf on ghost bikes

The city’s transportation and planning staff seem not to notice that roadside memorials to people killed in traffic are meant to point accusing fingers at them.

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I'm so happy! They are ubiquitous, especially with no rules. The city of Ottawa has a new plan for limiting the ghost bikes we drive-by all the time. This is what lobbying will do! A limit of 90 days.
This is a great idea. I think it so sad that people will only think of a loved one in the place where they died. There is so much more to grief and grieving, and many opportunities to navigate your way through a healthy grieving process. Hospice groups offer group and individual support.
It's a driving distraction, it crowds the sidewalk, and won't prevent another garbage truck from killing a person on a bike. Seriously.

I read about it on my Twitter feed.
BTW
Twitter is having some issues, since they've leveled off with new users, and they are finding it hard to earn a profit!

CBC Ottawa

10 hrs · 

"The notion that this is creating a heightened risk for an accident, I think, is unfounded."

3-month ghost bike limit 'too short,' grieving friends say

Friends and family who erected and maintain roadside memorials marking the tragic deaths of loved ones say a proposed three-month limit on such tributes is unreasonable.

CBC.CA

Safe biking - 'tis the season

In a battle between a bike (or motorcycle) and a car or truck, we know who loses. Sadly, a 60-year-old man died on Easter Sunday, April 5th, 2015, turning left across the highway, when a car tried to pass.
We did a 100km drive, and found two groups. Which one is safer, do you think? The law says, ride as close to the curb as possible. This clump of 4, on a highway where 80km/hr. is the law, but people are doing 120, and passing us.

The key is to be predictable, while following the rules of the road. Unfortunately, there are many on two or four wheels who are not predictable and risk all of our lives.

Sunday, June 28th, a hit and run:

Cyclist dies after struck by vehicle on Leitrim Road

Shortly after 6 a.m., Ottawa paramedics responded to a call for a cyclist struck by a vehicle on Leitrim Road, west of Albion Road, south of the airport.

Dangerous out there on the roads

In Muskoka, during Safe Motorcycling Week,...

Two motorcycle deaths Sunday as Motorcycle Awareness Week starts

(May 4 10am BRACEBRIDGE) Two men died in separate motorcycle accidents yesterday... 

Bracebridge woman dies in motorcycle accident near Bracebridge, the second death this week

(May 7 11am BRACEBRIDGE) Another motorcycle rider has been killed on Highway 118 east of Bracebridge...

Whether you are driving or riding, you must be vigilant. I find it so frightening on the roads, when the road warriors get out there. We can follow the rules of the road, but if others do not, they risk life and limb. There are too many ghost bikes around.

This sad memorial haunts Ottawa

There are issues on the paths, as well. I know many who are afraid of cyclists 'hellbent on election,' going far above safe and legal speeds. Quiet walkers have to jump out of the way. Dog walkers are another issue!

Toronto trail Etiquette is sadly lacking

Egan: Path rage – NCC should create bike-only lanes in new river park

COLUMNISTS MAY 6

The National Capital Commission is looking for ideas to create a linear park along the Ottawa River. Here's one: kick the bikes off the bike path. Yes, I absolutely mean that.

I'm not sure how safe it is, riding a motorcycle in flip flops, but there he was, passing us on a double line! The 2nd photo was on a Port Carling road (curvy and winding roads), on a hill.

Ontario Highway Traffic Act: Bicycles

 Cyclists must ride far enough out from the curb to maintain a straight line, clear of sewer grates, debris, potholes, and parked car doors. You may occupy any part of a lane when your safety warrants it. Never compromise your safety for the convenience of a motorist behind you.

 Cyclists are required to ride as close as practicable to the right curb of the roadway, except when: •travelling at the normal speed of traffic
•avoiding hazardous conditions
•the roadway is too narrow for a bicycle and a motor vehicle to travel safely side-by-side
•riding alongside another cyclist in a manner that does not impede the normal movement of traffic 
•preparing to make a left turn, passing another vehicle, or using a one-way street (in which case riding alongside the left curb is permitted).

Here are the Ontario rules of the road

Toronto Cycling

What is biking like in your part of the world?

Ghost bikes – Yes, the city should limit them

I hate passing them, every time we are in the city. The driving is horrible, 90 minutes into the hospital for regular cancer tests. Then we have to pass Dussault's memorial, as well. Then there are people passing us, speeding to some important meeting or appointment.

It is a bad corner, no question. Lots of traffic. They are ubiquitous. They are terrible reminders of death and dying. This doesn't celebrate where they lived well, but where they died.
Yes, limit them to being there for only one year, if people must place them at all. To decorate them with flags, pumpkins, mini Christmas tree? No.

 Ridiculous distractions. People shouldn't need a memorial to remind fellow cyclists to cycle safely. Drivers should slow down, check blind spots, but they don't and won't, unless it is a good habit. The garbage truck ran into poor Dussault. Cyclists have to drive with utmost caution. It's win-lose, for sure.

 Egan: Should city limit roadside memorials, ghost bikes?

COLUMNISTS MAR 5

In life, Meg Dussault was well-loved and, in death, expressively remembered – with spokes and wheels, ribbon and a rosary, with a small tree, a planter, a photograph, an ice sculpture.

Op-Ed: Ottawa won't pay for bike safety

LOCAL NEWS MAY 16, 2014

Her name was Danielle Naçu. On Tuesday October 11, 2011, she was doored on Queen Street. She was knocked into oncoming traffic, was struck and died. Thursday morning, another cyclist was doored, this time on Somerset Street. The cyclist suffered serious, yet relatively minor injuries. It is dark irony that Thursday's dooring came a day after the city celebrated the one-millionth trip along the Laurier bike lanes.

Cyclist killed in fundraiser ride identified as hospital official, 40

LOCAL NEWS SEP 8, 2014

Laurie Strano was engaged to be married and in the best condition of her life when she died in a tragic accident during this year’s Ride the Rideau fundraising event for cancer research.

38-year-old cyclist Mario Théoret

Ghost bike honours cyclist killed at busy intersection

By CTV Ottawa @ctvottawa

Another ghost bike has been set up in the Capital to solemnly mark the intersection where a cyclist lost his life. Friends and members of the cycling community placed the bike at West Hunt Club and...

1. 1. Ghost bike has appeared at spot where cyclist 27 yr old Krista Johnson was killed last week. #Ottawa #cbcott

      
      

      
2. Ottawa News ‏@OttawaTopNews  3 Oct 2012

   Kelly Egan: Across sea of asphalt, ghost bike reminds us a life was lost: Here died David Tyler Br... http://bit.ly/Vj79uw  #Ottawa #News

Trip to Ottawa Hospital

Back we went for follow-up tests. As we waited, our urologist/surgeon was delayed an hour and a half due to an emergency surgery, I wandered to the window. You can see someone standing on a bench, in the rain. It was a bit weird.

The doctor believes we need to have another CT Scan and another Bone Scan done this fall.
 It was quite the drive.

As we left the hospital, there was a major driving incident between two cars: one with the back smunched in, the other with the front smunched in, neither driveable. Good thing they were near Ottawa Hospital!

I find it spooky.

It's terribly difficult driving by these ghost bikes, 

and roadside memorials, on our way to 
cancer treatments in the city.

This one is for Meg Dussault

While preparing for a photo, hubby managed to grab photos of the black swans. On the way home I made hubby grab a photo of the ghost bike at the Bank St. Bridge in Ottawa. There are flower pots around it, too. A bit ghastly for me. I think we should remember the days they lived, and where they lived well, not where they died. In addition, it's a major in-your-face confrontation with our own grief and bereavement issues, while driving to and from appointments for cancer treatments, which isn't the best place for this.



My readers are right:

The dangers of cycling on Bronson Ave ... - CitizenCycle

cycle.ottawacitizen.com › News

Oct 22, 2012 - By Matthew Pearson And David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen ... Police sayKrista Johnson, 27, died Thursday night when the bicycle she was riding ... In her honour, there is now a ghost bike locked to a light standard near the .

A ghost bike roadside memorial sits at the corner of Bank Street and Riverside Drive, where a 56-year-old cyclist was killed on July 30 in a collision with a cement truck.