Outer Loop Ghost Bike

I am heading out to chain up another Ghost Bike this evening for an accident I should have recognized a while back. I was contacted by the victims sister thru GhostBikes.org as she was understandably upset that her brothers death did not receive the same attention as Jens did last month. This is something I think everyone in the riding community needs to take to heart. It’s a tough situation and being that Jens accident happened in such close proximity to where so many of us ride every day I understand why it gained the attention it did. However, I think everyone needs to step up when these accidents occur, regardless of what area of town it is in, if we are ever going to be taken seriously. Otherwise, we all look like a group of clique-ish assholes.

Back to the Outer Loop – The incident happened a couple months ago along the Outer Loop just outside of Louisville. The Outer Loop is not anything like what you would consider bike friendly with its 4 lanes and 45 mile an hour speed limit with the majority of traffic driving at least 50. The details I have been able to retrieve are as follows. Vance Kokojan was riding in the right lane, where the “law” states he should have been. While being passed by a tractor trailor driving in the left lane an impatient driver darted into the right lane out from behind the truck and struck Vance. As is the case in such incidents, the driver was simply allowed to go about thier day while another family was torn apart.

As I have stated before, jail is not the answer here. This looks to have been another careless accident. Because of the accidental nature I don’t feel locking the driver in a cage for some duration is going to solve anything. While nothing can be done to bring Vance back, I feel financial restitution to the victims family is the best available outcome. From what I have read, this was a man with a family who depended on his financial support and because of the carelessness of this driver a family has had that support stripped from them. I know this can sound cold and impersonal but I sincerely feel it is a legitimate solution.

When you start affecting people’s bank accounts they really start listening and paying attention to their actions. When you drive a car the consequences for your inattentive actions can be deadly. For whatever reason, this is simply not respected in our society.