ghost bikes

"The practice of erecting ghost bikes to honor the cycling dead began in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003. Patrick Van Der Tuin, a local cyclist who runs a shop that caters to low-income riders, saw a bicyclist struck and killed. He painted a bike white and erected it on the spot with a sign reading "Cyclist Struck Here". When he saw how the bike caused drivers in the area to be more cautious he and a group of friends put up 15 more ghost bikes around the city. Since then ghost bikes have spread to 75 cities across four continents.

"There is something about it that resonates with people from so many different cultures," says Leah Todd, a volunteer at the Street Memorial Project, which builds and installs ghost bikes around New York. "Whether or not you knew the person there is an immediate resonance, a feeling among riders that it could have been you, a shared sense of helplessness on the streets."'

full story at obit-mag.com