Velo Fantome installs 13th ghost bike for cyclist killed in Montreal

Another ghost bike erected A ghost bike was erected to honour Maxime Levesque, who died in April when he was hit by a car while cycling.

MONTREAL — Just before noon on Saturday, a bike painted entirely white was installed on the spot a cyclist was killed when he was struck by a vehicle.

It is the 13th ghost bike installed by Velo Fantome.

"It’s a very strong message, a very big visual to see the white bike. you can almost see the accident happen every time you see it,” said Severine Le Page of Velo Fantome. “It’s a reminder to everyone - whether it’s pedestrians, cyclist, automobile drivers, that something bad happened here.”

Maxime Levesque, 33, was killed while riding his bike on Papineau Ave. near Saint-Joseph Blvd. in the morning of April 8. The driver of a hatchback vehicle appeared to lose control of his vehicle, flipping it several times before striking Levesque, who was pronounced dead on the scene.

It was the first cyclist fatality of 2021.

Velo Fantome has installed 12 other ghost bikes since the organization began marking the spots of slain cyclists in 2013.

"A ghost bike is a bicycle painted white that is left at the exact spot where a cyclist died as a result of a road collision," Velo Fantome wrote. "It is a roadside memorial dedicated to the life of the deceased individual, intended to remind us of the dangers caused by motor vehicles and by deficient urban infrastructure."

This year, the bike commemorating Mathilde Blais's 2014 death was removed after infrastructure improvements on Saint-Denis St. have made riding much safer.

“Painted lines are not sufficient," said Le Page. "That’s not a bike lane. That’s not protected infrastructure.”