# Hmmm...Just found out what the white bike chained to the street sign is about. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052 "2012-07-22T16:45:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/21 "2012-07-25T19:27:46Z")
> [@bup](#): > > The crosses always make me wonder if Jews, Muslims and atheists are better drivers than Christians. [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/story/2011-10-31/supreme-court-utah-crosses/51013100/1](http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/story/2011-10-31/supreme-court-utah-crosses/51013100/1) > [@](#): > > The Utah Legislature, after the lawsuit began, passed a resolution noting that a white cross “has become widely accepted as a symbol of a death, and not a religious symbol, when placed along a highway.” ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/22 "2012-07-25T19:34:07Z")
I guess using a cross as a symbol for death is more acceptable than a hooded figure carrying a scythe. Maybe we could suggest other more universal symbols for death. A skull and crossbones comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Lynnsey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7bcc69/32.png) [@Lynnsey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynnsey)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/23 "2012-07-25T19:43:15Z")
I thought in Florida, they use these white lollilop shape signs to mark where a fatal accident takes place. At least I remember seeing a lot of them on US-1 on our way down to Key West. Around by me (Westchester County, NY) some families put up these god-awful ugly fake flower displays. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/24 "2012-07-25T19:49:00Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > When we visited Montana 25+ years ago, it was apparently a state-sponsored thing to put up a plain white cross wherever there’d been a fatality. Rather sobering to go around one curve on a US highway (2, I think, on the way to Kalispell / Glacier) and see 17 or so crosses on that one short curve. I think that was actually a single incident. There was a rather gruesome crash where a school van had a head on collision with a tanker truck on that stretch of road during the 80’s. Usually the roadside crosses are just left to decay and are gone in a decade or so, but they seem to be maintaining that particular cluster. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/25 "2012-07-25T22:54:19Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Maybe we could suggest other more universal symbols for death. > A skull and crossbones comes to mind. Nah, everybody knows a skull & crossbones means. “Here Be Pirates!” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/26 "2012-07-25T23:00:25Z")
I remember when driving in Australia the roads had white and black posts beside them, white for injuries and black for fatal accidents I believe. On the long stretches of dead straight highway in SA there’d be the occasional one dotted on each side, then you’d come to the first bend in 10 miles and there would be a veritable forest of them, where people had zoned out and ploughed off the road… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/27 "2012-07-25T23:39:33Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > This is news to you? Sorry, not being snarky, but I just assumed people knew what these were for. I’ve never seen one of these in my life, and had no idea what the OP was talking about. The crosses though, yes, those are all-too-common around here. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/28 "2012-07-26T03:04:49Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > We have a LOT of those crosses around here. A pretty high ratio, considering the entire valley has maybe 20,000 people officially living here. > > Whoops…need to edit. There are apparantly over 150,000 people officially living in this county. I never would have guessed, seriously. In Colorado the use of the cross was outlawed and now the signs show a kind of ribbon shape (kinda like the Race for the Cure). As far as I know they are only at locations where someone was killed by a drunk driver. Actually, there are [of styles](http://www.coloradodot.info/library/forms/cdot1314.pdf) (pdf file). Bob ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/29 "2012-07-26T14:02:07Z")
While I understand the sentiment, roadside memorials have always seemed tacky and frankly rather ugly to me. And how long are they supposed to stay up? Are these things meant to be permanent? I see so many that I’ve essentially become desensitized to them, so there’s arguably not a lot of impact on random strangers. They’re little different than graffiti as far as I’m concerned, and ought to be removed in a timely fashion. Do friends and family really keep revisiting these memorials at the site of their loved one’s death? That seems morbid and not entirely healthy. As for the Ghost Bikes, there’s all of that _plus_ the fact that they block the damn sidewalk (at least the ones in the photos in the wiki article seem to). As a pedestrian, I’d be more annoyed than moved by the gesture. Do others here feel the same way, or am I just an insensitive asshole? “Both” is an option. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052/30 "2012-07-26T14:35:27Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > We had our first in Belfast a few months ago. Someone found it within themselves to lift it, but it was replaced again pretty quickly. Bike Ghosts should be attached with Power Bands I guess… ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hmmm-just-found-out-what-the-white-bike-chained-to-the-street-sign-is-about/629052.md?page=1)