Editor’s Note: The following is an extended version of the story that appears in our latest print edition.

A dozen or so cyclists participated in the annual Bronx “Ghost” bike “Ride of Silence” through the borough on Wednesday, May 20. The event was organized, as usual, by the NYC Street Memorial Project and Transportation Alternatives and was dedicated to the memory of the 47 cyclists and e-bikers killed in Bronx traffic collisions since 2005, according to Transportation Alternatives.

 

On the eve of the ride, Kevin Daloia, a leading biking advocate, said, “We placed a ‘Ghost’ bike at the intersection of Mosholu [Parkway] and Southern Boulevard last night and we will stop there to place and dedicate a sign for the fallen cyclist.” The ghost bike memorials are actual bikes painted white, and left, along with flowers, at the locations of various fatal bicycle and e-bike collisions to raise awareness about cyclist and e-bike safety.

The bike riders duly gathered the following day at the northwest corner of Mosholu Parkway at Southern Boulevard, just south of Norwood, as one of the riders hung a sign over the latest installed “ghost” bicycle.

 

The group then cycled down the winding bike path along Southern Boulevard towards Bronx Park East. The bike riders also placed flowers at other “ghost” bike sites along their 10-mile trip. They said the latest “ghost” bike was dedicated to Charles Ovono Oluwole, 50, of Williamsbridge, The Bronx who, according to his cousin, Ana Adeyemi, was working, making a food delivery at the time of his death in October 2025.

According to the NYPD, and as reported at the time, Oluwole was riding an e-bike eastbound on Southern Boulevard when he collided with a metal pole and was ejected from his bike. Oluwole was not wearing a helmet and suffered severe head trauma. He was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

 

On Thursday, June 4, Adeyemi, who is Oluwole’s only relative in the United States, recalled, “We got the news on October 7, and we did the burial on November 14.” Adeyemi had posted a GoFundMe request that helped pay for Oluwole’s burial at Woodlawn Cemetery. Asked what police told her at the time of her cousin’s death, Adeyemi replied, “They said he hit his head on the pole.” Asked if he had worn a helmet, she said, “No, no helmet.”

According to Adeyemi, Oluwole came to The Bronx from Nigeria in 2012. She said he was undocumented and often worked for a popular food delivery company. She said he would also take odd jobs, like covering as a security guard. “He was a hard worker,” Adeyemi said. According to an obituary distributed at Oluwole’s wake, he was “enthusiastic about music” and taught himself how to play drums and keyboard. According to the obituary, Oluwole was survived by his siblings, Seyi Arayela and Oluleke Arayela, as well as his cousin, Adeyemi.

 

Oluwole would become at least the third victim of a fatal bicycle collision on an estimated one-mile stretch of Southern Boulevard between East Bedford Park Boulevard and Bronx Park East in the last decade. According to published reports, in April 2016, cyclist Heather Lough, 29, was struck and killed by a truck, literally feet from arriving at her job at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). The driver of the truck had just made a delivery to the garden.

 

According to Streetsblog, in July 2018, the truck driver, Robert Owens, now 54, pled guilty to reckless driving and one count of failure to exercise due care, a traffic infraction. He was reportedly fined $1,088 and his driver’s license was suspended for 75 days.

 

Norwood News reported on a fatal hit ‘n run crash that took place on June 18, 2021 on Southern Boulevard at the entrance to the northbound Bronx River Parkway. The NYPD said at the time the victim, an e-bike cyclist, was fatally struck by a 2019 Mercedes Benz, and the driver fled the scene on foot.

On Tuesday, June 9, an NYPD official told Norwood News the victim had still not been identified, and no arrests have been made. We asked if a photo, sketch or description of the victim or of the Mercedes Benz driver was available, and if the vehicle had been stolen. We had not received a response as of press date.

 

On Friday, June 4, Norwood News spoke to Erin, a biker and Woodlawn resident, who said he bikes 4 miles a day, commuting as a teacher. Crossing from the eastbound to the westbound lane along a heavily congested Mosholu Parkway the same day, Erin said of the area, “I drive here often; never any problems.” He continued, “That’s the concern, running into someone else with a bike, like this guy right here.” Erin gestured to a man riding an e-bike who turned onto an incline while wearing a pair of headphones.

 

“And you can’t say anything to them, or they’ll flip out on you and pull their guns out on you,” Erin continued. “In terms of the cars, you’ve got to stay out of their way. If not, you might get hit.”

 

The New York City Street Memorial Project began in 1992 according to advocates and has since become a worldwide phenomenon. Used bikes are donated to the group that are amended by Recycle-a-bicycle so that they cannot be ridden anymore and are used instead for the memorials.

In February 2024, as reported, a woman was arrested and charged in relation to a 2022 hit ‘n run incident in which a cyclist was killed in the Soundview section of The Bronx. In 2023, a 64-year-old e-bike cyclist was killed in a separate hit ‘n run incident in Morris Park. In May 2021, another cyclist was struck on Mosholu Parkway in Norwood/Bedford Park by an SUV.

 

In November 2020, bus and bike lanes were added to a Bronx corridor in Highbridge which was a hub for cyclist injuries.

 

Councilmember Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11) held a kids’ free bike helmet giveaway in the Williamsbridge Oval in Norwood on Sunday, May 17.

 

More recently, as reported, a 32-year-old motorcyclist was killed in an MTA bus-motorcycle accident near Tracey Towers in Bedford Park in April 2026. As above, only bicycles and e-bikes fall within the scope of the Street Memorial Project.

An overview of the latest available transit fatalities and collisions, including those involving bicycles and e-bikes is attached for both Patrol Borough Bronx North and Patrol Borough Bronx South for the 28-day period ending June 7 2026. As reported, the division of the borough into two distinct north and south patrol commands was implemented in May, having been first announced in February.

 

Patrol Borough Bronx North, headquartered at the 48th Precinct in Belmont, comprises NYPD Precincts 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, and 52, while Patrol Borough Bronx South, headquartered at the 40th Precinct in the South Bronx, comprises NYPD Precincts 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, and 45.

According to the Streetsblog, Sammy’s Law is a State law named for 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein who was killed by a driver on Prospect Park West in Brooklyn in 2013, and which was finally passed in Albany in 2024. After years of lobbying by advocates for safer streets, the law allows the City to impose reduced speed limits.

City officials said more than 800 additional school locations will see speed limits reduced to 15 mph this year, bringing the total school locations with 15 mph speed limits to 1,300 by the end of the calendar year. They said the administration also plans to expand 15 mph School Slow Zones, where eligible, at all 2,300 school locations across the five boroughs by the end of Mamdani’s first term.

In August 2021, DOT called for the expansion of speed cameras in school zones following a Bronx fatal crash, and in October 2024, the expansion of New York City’s red light speed camera program was signed into law.

 

Read some of our prior “Ghost Bike” coverage here and some other related cycling coverage here.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.