I've been answering this question a lot over the past year. At first, I had trouble articulating all the reasons. There are a lot of good reasons. The big one that I kept blurting out instinctively was "Because people should know that this is happening." I started this film project partly as a response to repeatedly being asked, "What is a ghost bike? Why bother to do this?"

After a year of talking to many people about their ghost bike experiences, I've learned a lot about cycling issues in different cities in the U.S., Europe, and South America. Talking about ghost bikes opens up conversations about all sorts of advocacy issues. You can't talk about a cyclist's death without describing the circumstances that contributed to it, and very often these deaths could have been prevented. I'm not referring to assigning blame to drivers or cyclists, I'm talking about redesigning streets and attitudes to enable everyone to have safe passage on the road.

THREE REASONS FOR A FILM ABOUT GHOST BIKE PROJECTS AROUND THE WORLD

VISIBILITY CREATES AWARENESS, AND AWARENESS INCREASES SAFETY

Everyone should know what a ghost bike means. Ghost bikes each represent a wonderful person who is missed by friends and family, and should not be misinterpreted and dismissed as merely street art.

STORIES LEAD TO ACTION

This film is an open forum for anyone to share their ghost bike story. Understanding and empathizing with each other as human beings, instead of as cyclists and drivers, could lead to a more courteous traffic culture and safe passage for all road users.

VERBA VOLANT, SCRIPTA MANENT

I want to create a permanent visual record of street memorials that are often temporary. As a visual artist, I have always had an affinity for the Latin motto above, which means "Words fly, but writing remains." I believe that documenting events, and creating a permanent archive of their occurrence, affirms that these actions are significant and creates a means for them to have a lasting effect.