By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The mom and her two daughters strolled over to the ghost bike memorial at the food court in Downtown Summerlin mid-day Friday. And they looked at the haunting five-seat, white-painted symbol representing the lives of five people killed by an impaired truck driver while the five bicycled with a group of cyclists in the Las Vegas area Dec. 10.
“I was telling her that she should live and enjoy your life because it can be over in a blink of a moment,” the mother said.
Indeed, the fragility of life was not more apparent nearly four months ago when Alexander Barson of Kingman, Arizona was accused of driving his truck with methamphetamine in his system into a group of about 20 cyclists 60 miles south of Las Vegas the morning of Dec. 10. Barson was accused of 14 felonies for the crash that claimed the lives of Aksoy Ahmet, Mike Murray, Gerrard Nieva, Erin Ray and Tom Trauger. A sign with their name is posted at the ghost bike display in Downtown Summerlin.
This single ghost bike memorializing the five cyclists was unveiled in an emotional ceremony Jan, 23 in Summerlin. It was later installed temporarily at the high-visibility northwest corner of Charleston Boulevard and the 215 Beltway, where motorists making turns have been seen endangering the lives of bicyclists and walkers using the surface-street 215 Beltway trail that crosses Charleston.
Pat Treichel, a leader of the Ghost Bikes Las Vegas organization, said Downtown Summerlin, which is owned by Summerlin master developer Howard Hughes Corporation, reached out and asked what they could do to help create change to stop motorists from injuring bicyclists and walkers.
“We agreed that placing it (the ghost bike) in their public space would raise its visibility and impact,” Treichel told LVSportsBiz.com Friday. “In addition to our goal of #nomoreghostbikes, we will continue to work towards no more roadway fatalities. Slow down and never drive angry, impaired or distracted.”
Downtown Summerlin and Howard Hughes Corporation hope the ghost bike display and safety tips for motorists and bicyclists will “help bring awareness to the importance of cycling safety.” The display was put up Thursday.
Besides the ghost bike, there are single-wheel displays in the Downtown Summerlin food court area that explains the law that requires motorists to move over a lane when passing a bicyclist if there is a second passing lane.
Several bicycle safety organizations have worked with Ghost Bikes Las Vegas to also raise money for the families of the five cyclists who were killed. They are also raising money by selling matching bicycle jerseys and shorts called kits. You can purchase those here.
Some people have mixed emotions about ghost bikes. The Ghost Bike Las Vegas group has installed ghost bikes where bicyclists have been killed by people operating motorized vehicles near Red Rock Resort hotel-casino, which is across the street from Downtown Summerlin, and in Henderson. But in both cases, the ghost bikes were opposed and removed. Red Rock Resort opposed a June 2017-installed ghost bike for bicyclist Kayvan Khiabani, who was struck and killed in April 2017. And a homeowners association removed a ghost bike installed in Henderson in the memory of bicyclist Cara Cox, who was also killed while cycling in 2017.
Summerlin and its developer, Howard Hughes Corp., support bicycling. In fact, Howard Hughes uses bicycling as a way to promote its housing developments and also holds a Tour de Summerlin bicycle event.
“The Howard Hughes Corporation plans to continue working with the biking community to improve safety awareness and access in Downtown Summerlin and across the community at large,” Howard Hughes/Downtown Summerlin said in a statement.
And the ghost bike installation in Downtown Summerlin is a powerful statement that everyone — walkers, bicyclists and motorists — need to work to stop the carnage on our roadways in Southern Nevada.