To the Editor:

I am writing because I was absolutely shocked to read the column by Frank Palmeri, taking offense at ghost bikes. It was one of the most selfish and stupid things I have ever read. I can’t believe it was published.

First of all, the author does not understand why ghost bikes exist. He says he doesn’t like to drive by one twice a day because it reminds them of the tragedy.

That is exactly their purpose! Yes, they memorialize the victim, but also they are there to remind drivers to drive carefully and also to protest the overwhelming bias our laws and policies have in favor of vehicles.

Bikes are very dangerous, the column claims. Really? Really?

Without cars, yes, a freak accident could still happen where someone could be thrown off their bike. But by far the biggest danger to bikers is vehicles

Vehicles are dangerous. Being forced to ride alongside and next to vehicles is dangerous. Bikers pose no threat to anyone.

If a bike hits a car, the car may be scratched. If a biker hits a pedestrian or another biker, there could possibly be some bruises. It is only vehicles that pose a lethal threat to bikers and pedestrians.

Saying that bikes are dangerous because cars hit them (more likely oversized SUVs) is victim blaming.

I don’t ride bikes. I am a blind pedestrian who takes public transit. But I have more in common with bikers than I do with drivers.

When you are not consumed with car culture like it’s the air you breathe because it’s the only thing you know, it becomes easy to see the ridiculousness that surrounds car culture.

Once you start looking, you can’t unsee it. It’s everywhere and baked into everything. How we have turned over huge acres upon acres of our cities to it while people are homeless.

How my friends who use wheelchairs still can’t get into some buildings but the entire world is set up so another 4-wheel vehicle, several times larger than a wheelchair, is perfectly accommodated everywhere.

How three-quarters of the current town I am living in is cut off to me due to underfunded public transportation while the city built a double decker road over the main drag so commuters might save five minutes on the way home from work.

And how we just accept, as a society, that thousands of pedestrians and bikers (and vehicle drivers and passengers) die each year. In fact, human death is built into our cities traffic plans.

But I’m sorry the author of this column gets an itty-bitty-bit sad every day when he has to see a ghost bike on the way to work.

And instead of letting that feeling inspire him to drive safely and advocate for safer traffic and vehicle policies, he just wants that awful bike to just go away and not hurt his widdle feelings anymore.

Again, the emotional needs of car drivers are much more important than the fact that someone died there at the hands of a driver.

My God. Get your heads out of your selfish asses.

Lisa Ferris

Miles Access Skills Training, LLC

Portland, Oregon