Don Murphy Ghost Bike
Thread started by
Creative Thing at 12.23.09 - 7:44 pm
I installed the Ghost Bike for Donald Murphy this afternoon.
He was killed by a hit and run driver 2 weeks ago in Newport Beach.
It took a while for me to get the bike and paint it.
Newport Beach is in the heart of Orange County and it shows. Jamboree, the road Don was struck and killed on, is a freeway in every way but a few traffic lights and name. Cars zoom up and down the street and there is no stopping or parking for miles in each direction.
I parked a half mile away in a church parking lot and walked up to about the spot of impact, based on the information I gathered. There is no memorial, no candles, no flowers there. They cleaned up the crash site pretty well, so I made an educated guess and cable locked the bike to the nearest light post.
I hope the bike will remain in place at least through the weekend. With tomorrow being Christmas Eve, I think that is possible. After that, it won't be long before the city road crew will pick it up.
Many thanks to Joe Borfo for providing the stripped down bike and some paint.
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yes. thanks guys for taking on the responsibility
indigis12.23.09 - 9:25 pm
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you and Borfo are awesome people.
Huey55512.24.09 - 2:03 am
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Thanks for doing this.
I wish kryptonite would have come through with a lock so that thing cold be bolted down a bit longer.
Good job with the timing ct. The holidays will see lots of vehicle traffic and I am sure the city workers have other stuff to deal with this weekend.
trickmilla12.24.09 - 7:10 am
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, this will keep happening. I have bikes to donate when it does. Sad.
rev106 responding to a
comment by trickmilla
12.24.09 - 7:19 am
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It looks great! Thank you. I'll pass the word...
alicestrong12.24.09 - 8:21 am
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kudos!
you guys are amazing.
coldcut12.24.09 - 1:53 pm
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Hey, is the bike still there? Do you think a Kryptonite NY chain would help, or do the city workers have access to the same buzzsaw cutters that the Fire Dept uses?
jericho1ne responding to a
comment by coldcut
12.24.09 - 2:27 pm
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Thank you for this, CT and Borfo.
I wonder whether it would be possible to retrieve the ghost bikes after they're cut down. That's what happened with the original ghost bikes that Patrick VDT put up in St. Louis. The bikes would stay up for maybe a week before the road crews cut the chains and hauled them away. Patrick had figured out where they were taking them, so he would just retrieve them and put them up again the next week (I think there may have been a few sympathetic workers in the city yard, which probably helped). This cycle repeated a few times over a couple months before either Patrick or the city workers got tired of the whole thing and the ghost bikes were no more.
I also wonder if flowers and candles placed around the ghost bike would make the road crews think twice about removing it. Does the city machine listen if you try to appeal to its sense of common decency?
nathansnider12.24.09 - 3:11 pm
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I used a cheap, 99 cent store cable lock.
The location has very little, if any foot traffic. There is no place close by to walk to!
Also, there is no stopping or parking within a half mile of the site.
No bike thief worth their cable cutters would bother with this bike. Its all low end Kmart.
My sense is the bike will remain there until the city crew removes it, which should be some time next week.
I live in north O.C., 25 miles from the site, so rescuing it from the city yard or wherever they take it is impractical.
I like the idea of putting the bike out there and letting events take their course.
My hope is someone will pick up the idea and leave flowers and candles. In the meantime, thousands of cars will drive by and I know some cycling groups regularly ride up that hill, so they may see it on their Christmas ride in the next few days.
A friend of mine drives this road everyday to work, so I can check with him next week to see if its still there.
Creative Thing responding to a
comment by nathansnider
12.24.09 - 7:22 pm
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Hello everyone,
To whoever put up the ghost bike, I would just like to say it was effective. I never go that way but it was still there on the 28th of December when I saw it. I'm so sorry for your loss and seeing the bike broke my heart. Lost a friend to a bike accident two years ago and the city wouldn't us keep the ghost bike up. I'm sure a lot of people saw it and make people think twice while driving down that stretch. I think there was another accident in mid '09 around that area. Ride safe.
personperson01.9.10 - 11:28 pm
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Thanks for posting this, Personx2.
I'm glad the bike stayed up for a while, and people noticed.
Cautioning drivers is a big reason for putting these bikes out there.
An editor at the O.C. Register emailed me that he is writing a follow-up story and mentioning the Ghost Bike.
Sadly, we are now making another G.B. for Gustavo Ramirez, who was killed in an accident Jan. 5 in Long Beach.
Creative Thing responding to a
comment by personperson
01.10.10 - 3:48 pm
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I drove past this Ghost Bike yesterday, and to my surprise, it was still there, one month later!
This made my day and hopefully, drivers will see it and be careful around bikes, and make many others day too.
Creative Thing01.22.10 - 4:42 pm
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thats fukn awesome!!
Huey555 responding to a
comment by Creative Thing
01.22.10 - 4:45 pm
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This was just posted on the Orange County Register site:
SANTA ANA – A Riverside woman has been convicted in the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in Newport Beach while under the influence of prescription drugs.
Patricia Ann Izquieta, 38, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one felony count of hit and run with death or permanent injury, one felony count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence, and one misdemeanor count of driving without a valid license with a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily injury, prosecutors said.
Izquieta was under the influence of prescription drugs when the Saturn SUV she was driving struck Donald Murphy from behind while he was bicycling with two friends on Jamboree Road on Dec. 9, 2009, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.
After hitting Murphy, who was riding along the curb, Izquieta fled the scene, dragging Murphy's bicycle under her car for more than a mile before stopping in a parking lot, prosecutors said.
Izquieta was taking medications including methadone and clonazepam, which impaired her driving, they said.
Murphy, 49, of Irvine, died a day after the crash due to severe head and neck injuries. Following the incident, Murphy's family issued a statement forgiving Izquieta, saying she did nothing intentionally wrong.
"It is important for everyone to also understand that, just like Don would have done, the young lady charged with this terrible accident has been forgiven by the family," the 2009 statement said. "The family believes that there was no malice on her part and would like for all of you to also pray for her, so that we could find peace within her and God for what happened."
Murphy, a husband and father of two, was a civil engineer and had firm Christian faith that made him a "pretty motivated guy to help others," his brother, John Murphy, told the Register in an interview. Much of his spare time was spent at halfway houses where he helped people find sobriety.
Contact the writer: 714-834-3773 or vjolly@ocregister.com
Creative Thing responding to a
comment by Huey555
02.2.11 - 12:21 pm
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