Cyclists and Pedestrians killed in 2012

At the end of the 8th Memorial Ride, all the rides converged at Queens Boulevard and Jackson in Queens.  Here we installed a memorial ghost bike and sign for all cyclists and pedestrians who died on New York City streets in 2012.

The sign reads: 

In 2012 at least 18 bicyclists and 136 pedestrians were killed in New York City. This is a memorial for all those whose deaths never made the news.

You can look at a video of this memorial here

At the memorial, we shared these words: 

This bike is dedicated to the cyclists and pedestrians whose deaths did not make the news in 2012.  Each year we learn about a certain number of deaths, and then later we get a mere statistic which lets us know about the deaths for which we have no name and no further information.  This year, we learned of 17 deaths.  This bike has been placed here to honor the people who we believe deserve more recognition than a statistic.

In Queens this year, there were more deaths than we’ve ever recorded since we started this project.   6 people were killed in this borough, more than any other borough in 2012.  Yet we still need to stand here today to call out their names, and we look upon this dangerous intersection and demand that the streets, and the behavior of all the people who use them, change. 

We say that we do this for two reasons: to remember those we’ve lost and to prevent future deaths.  But they’re really the same thing.  Every time we come together and mourn someone, we’re creating a safer space for each other.  Every time we advocate for safer roads, we’re saying that those deaths were not isolated, that they were not forgettable and inevitable instances of urban life, that in fact each of those people we lost mattered.

The City will tell you not to worry.  Though the average number of yearly cyclist deaths has remained largely unchanged over the past decade, though the number has stayed largely the same since we began tracking these deaths years before the City would make that information public, we’re still told not to be concerned – because the number of regular cyclists has increased, so even though the number of deaths stays the same each year, the percentage of cyclists killed has decreased.  But we’re not here because we care about numbers or statistics.  We’re here because we care about people. 

Because each of these people we lost – cyclists and pedestrians – mattered.   Because each person was unique and important and intricately connected to us through this complicated web of leisure and recreation and sport and activism that is our community. Because we are here, building this, being in this space with each other and committing to each other that we care, that we will take care of each other as best we can.  The City and all the bikes lanes in the world are not going to keep us safe.  But this moment here, this spirit and this action, this call that we are making, this recognition of each other – that is the manifestation of the work that we do each day to be visible, to push change together, to keep each other safe.  And that is how we stay human.

What we’re asking for is so basic.  It is not special, or surprising, or much to ask.  It is simply to get where we are going each day safely.  And that is a human right – it actually is; the right to safe passage is a human right.  You have the right not to fear for your safety on our roads.  So demand it.  With each person here today, stand in remembrance of each of these people, and do as we say each time we have to put up a ghost bike, with your whole heart.  Vow that we will work together and ride together and mourn together until we truly do not have to do this again.