On Friday, February 9, 2018 at 10:55:16 AM UTC-8, Radey Shouman wrote:
Frank Krygowski writes:

On 2/9/2018 10:31 AM, Radey Shouman wrote:
jbeattie writes:


But I have yet to see a ghost car by the side of the
road. http://www.oregonlive.com/living/ind...nd_a_bitt.html

I see quite a few roadside crosses here. I'm sure most of those they
memorialize were either car drivers or passengers. Maybe they don't do
that in Oregon.

I come across a few roadside crosses or other similar memorials, but
they are probably fewer than one every 200 miles.

Given that there are over 35,000 motorists killed each year (vs. about
800 bicyclists) it seems like white painted junk cars should be
stacked up everywhere! Cars are dangerous!

Google claims the US has 4.12 million miles of road, so that would be
118 miles per fatality. That sounds well within the precision of your
200 mile estimate, particularly since some crash sites have multiple
fatalities, and most are not marked.

I've also assumed a lifetime of a year. I guess it's a matter of local
mores: Ghost bikes rarely last a week here, but roadside crosses may
persist for years. Who knows? They might even remind the occasional
driver to pay attention.

A lot of that road is pretty empty. You could play football on some of the highways in Eastern Oregon. http://i.imgur.com/44YsRI2.jpg (going west from Nevada). Take an extra water bottle.

Anyway, we don't get much in the way of memorials around here for the dead drivers. Bicyclists and motorists die with some regularity on my flat commute route. https://bikeportland.org/2013/05/16/...bur-blvd-86837 Angela Burke got a vigil. https://bikeportland.org/2010/12/20/...bur-blvd-44832 Someone has died there every year for at least the last six years. I've been riding it for 30 years -- before bike lanes, and alas, I must suffer through my dreary existence, still alive. I admit, though, with increased traffic and the buses, it can be pretty unpleasant.

-- Jay Beattie.