About 75 people gathered Sunday at an Edmonton memorial ghost bike, the site of city’s fourth fatal motorcycle crash this year.
The memorial bike, painted in white, was set up on the grasses near the Old Timers Cabin a week ago, following the death of 33 year-old Justin Martin.
Martin crashed while heading south on Scona Road on June 22. Emergency crews found Martin with life-threatening injuries and he later died in hospital.
The St. Catherines, Ont., native had lived in Alberta for about five years and had become a well-liked member of the local motorcycle community.
John Taylor, lead organizer of Ride in Paradise – Edmonton Memorial (RIP-EM), said Martin’s death hits some people harder than others, but it’s difficult for the community overall.
“Some people knew him better than others,” Taylor said. “It’s tragic. But everyone needs to learn from every collision and every fatality and learn what we can do better for the future.”
It’s not just bikers that need to be aware, but all drivers on the road, according to Taylor.
“Understand you’re not the only person on the road and what you have to do later on in the day has nothing to do with driving down the road. Everybody wants to get to their destination safely,” Taylor said.
“Unfortunately, this rider didn’t get where he was going.”
Taylor said Martin preferred to cruise the open roads and highways rather than ride in the city.
The memorial brought friends, family and strangers together to share their grief. That included his childhood friend Cody Desmarais, who flew to Edmonton from Ontario.
He told the crowd gathered at the memorial that what happened to Martin could happen to any of them out on the roads.
“It’s a simple manoeuvre that unfortunately if things go wrong, things go wrong,” Desmarais said. “It happens. This is the lifestyle. Unfortunately, it happened to Justin.”
Two ghost bikes have been created by the RIP-EM group. There’s no indication when the bike will move from Scona Road, but Taylor said they try to leave them up until a memorial is arranged.
“We move those to the fatality collisions,” Taylor said. “But, when there’s no fatalities, which hopefully there’s no more, the ghost bike will move around to previous crash sites to raise awareness as well.”
Martin is the fourth person to die in Edmonton while riding a motorcycle this year. A 31-year-old man was killed in mid-March on Anthony Henday Drive near Callingwood Road.
A man was found near the southbound off-ramp from Yellowhead Trail westbound onto the Anthony Henday April 20.
Just days later a 28-year-old woman, the passenger on a bike, was killed after a multi-vehicle crash near the 111th Avenue exit ramp.