White ghost bike set up for Gerardo Marciales, who was hit, killed by car while on Divvy Bike on DuSable Lake Shore Drive

CHICAGO (CBS) — A white ghost bike has been set up to memorialize Gerardo Marciales, who lost his life this past winter when the Divvy bike he was riding was hit by a car on DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

As CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar reported Thursday, Marciales had no interest in owning a car. He loved public transportation and riding his bike.

Bike advocates now want a white ghost bike along the Drive in Grant Park downtown to serve as a warning about the dangers of the intersection where he lost his life.

Marciales was originally from Venezuela. He moved to Chicago in 2019 and worked as a computer engineer. 

Jamie Bolognone was his fiancée.

“Gerado was full of life – hilarious,” she said. “We don’t want any other family to go through what we’ve gone through.”

Marciales was riding a Divvy bike during rush hour at the end of February when a car hit him on DuSable Lake Shore Drive at Balbo Drive. He was 41.

“How can you sleep knowing you couldn’t wait in a traffic light?” said Marciales’ sister, Dubraska Diaz-Campos.

Several cyclists showed up to the scene on Divvys Thursday night in solidarity – not only to remember Marciales, but to raise awareness about the intersection. 

Mike Perrino has led his own guerilla research — recording videos at the DuSable Lake Shore and Balbo drives and counting the number of cars that run the red light.

Last Thursday during a five-hour stretch, he tallied more than 1,800.

“We all know this intersection is rough,” said Christina Whitehouse of Bike Lane Uprising. “We know there’s not a lot of access points to get to and from the lakefront.”

Whitehouse is an advocate for cyclists, and has the grim task of organizing the ghost bike program

“We can’t keep up with this,” she said. “We have been buying materials for ghost bikes in bulk.”

A ghost bike will also soon will placed in the West Loop, after a cyclist was hit and killed earlier this month by a driver under the influence of drugs. 

As his ghost bike is locked in place, those who love Marciales are asking for changes to the infrastructure at the intersection, in the hopes no other ghost bike joins his.

“We hope people are listening and that the city considers making some safety changes,” Bolognone said.

The 26-year-old driver who hit Marciales was cited for disobeying the lane markings.