Today was the ghost bike ride for Adam Excell, a young man struck down last Saturday in the prime of his life. This is the third ghost bike ride in two weeks. Not much more can be said.
Riders gather.
An interesting Sears brand folding bike.
My former neighbour Danny and I were on Bike Fridays.
The ghost bike arrives.
Joey briefs everyone.
A short ride along Bloor and then up Bedford.
On Davenport, approaching Avenue.
Arrival
Installing the ghost bike.
Friends and relatives met us at the intersection, many of them wearing shirts emblazoned with #livelikeadam.
After Tino wrote on the bike, many others joined in.
By all accounts, Adam was a careful cyclist. He had a helmet and lights when he was hit at this intersection. Whatever justice is meted out to the 19 year old who hit and ran, a moment’s inattention led to one life gone, and another affected forever.
31 traffic fatalities so far this year, including 21 pedestrians and these three cyclists in the past month. Something has to be done. If 31 Torontonians were killed by guns, this is all we would be talking about. Instead, these needless deaths are treated as collateral damage by our autocentric society, with a good deal of victim blaming thrown in for good measure.
Ride (and walk) safe everyone.
Globe and Mail Obituary
Tino’s photos
Update: it took two years for a court appearance. Driver pleads guilty; sentencing on Monday.
Mitchell Irwin, now 21, pleads guilty in hit-and run death of cyclist Adam Excell, 26
Biking in a Big City 
Just wanted to let you know that we’ve added Adam’s name to the Ride of Silence memorial database: http://www.rideofsilence.org/memoriam.php#letter_E
Thank you for all you have done to honor and remember Adam’s life and protect the lives of other bicyclists in Toronto by raising awareness of bicyclists’ rights to the roads there.