Cincinnati Ghost Bike & Blinkie Program

The Cincinnati Cycle Club held a vigil and posted a ghost bike at the location where local rider Ronald “10 speed” Richardson was struck and killed by a city bus. Reports describe Richardson turning in front of the bus, while bus drivers have expressed visibility issues being a cause of collisions. With this in mind, the Cincinnati Cycle Club has turned this tragedy into a safety program. Instead of just hosting a ghost bike and hoping such an event doesn’t happen again, the CCC has raised funds to purchase thousands of front and rear “blinks” which will be distributed by volunteers to anyone they see riding without lights. The volunteers will simply stop lightless riders on the streets and attach front and rear blinkies to their bikes. So far the CCC has raised $5800.

I love that a proactive program has come from this incident and hope other bike advocacy programs take note. I’d imagine a simple kickstarter page would go a long way to getting the funds for a similar endeavor.

You can donate to their program here (then start your own!).