Ghost Bike Installed After a Death in Dorchester

Photo courtesy of Andy Schroeder

About 10 people gathered on Sunday morning to install a ghost bike along Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester for Doan Bui, the 63-year-old Dorchester man who was killed last week by an apparent drunk driver.

It was somber, but suffused with a sense of duty and honor, that we were doing the right thing for a member of our tribe. A few people from Dorchester gathered the bike, painted it, and organized the installation. These ghost bike don’t happen any other way than somebody cares enough to take it upon herself to do something. Some cyclists also tried to track down his family, but couldn’t find a reliable address. In the end, everyone decided, it was still important to memorialize the spot, even if we couldn’t touch base with the family first. That’s what you do when a member of your tribe has fallen. Though nobody knew Bui, everyone felt like we could have seen him, or at least befallen his same fate except for a few different details.

When the ghost bike was chained and after some touch-up paint was added to make it really shine, we thought we’d done a good job. The cars on Morrissey would be able to see it, especially when they were stopped in traffic waiting to get out of city during the afternoon rush. Maybe it will make them think twice again about how easily a cyclist’s life can be snatched away by a car. Another person who was there stuck a bunch of lavender into the brake cables on the handlebars.

And as the group dispersed, the group hoped it wouldn’t have to meet this way again.