Ghost Bikes in Brooklyn

Just back from a week in New York. Dancing, visiting great friends, and, of course, eating. But I'll get to that later.
My friends Nancy and Paul live in Park Slope, and there are two ghost bikes in their neighborhood. These are bicycles, painted completely white. One had been put there very recently, and artificial flowers still decorated its frame. Above each bike is the name of the person who was killed at that spot, the person's age and how he or she died. The one a block from their house was a 50-year-old man who had been hit by a bus; the other, a few more blocks away was a 28-year-old woman killed by a truck.
I have seen the first one on several occasions; it's been there more than a year. I've seen a few others in a few other spots in the United States. They always leave me sad. But they also leave me wondering. How did it happen? How could it have been prevented?

That is the million dollar question. And that question needs to be answered by all of us, cyclists, pedestrians, vehicle drivers. While walking in Brooklyn yesterday, I saw a cyclist come tearing down President Street. He wasn't wearing a helmet and he ignored the red light and sailed through. Fortunately, no traffic was coming so he didn't have a problem. Another cyclist who was riding right behind him stopped. This second cyclist was carrying a pizza; he was making a delivery for a local pizza shop. Funny-- I assumed someone in a hurry to make a delivery would have been the one running the light. But he stopped, waited for it to change and went on his way. Mind you, it was snowing at the time.

So as I see these ghost bicycles I have to wonder, were the cyclists more like the first or second cyclist I saw at the corner of President and 8th. There are people in vehicles who hate cyclists, and of course, many cyclists who hate people in cars. I've seen lots of bad riding and bad driving. No one is immune to being at fault. I wish I had a solution. I don't. But I mourn for those cyclists and I hope those ghost bikes serve as a reminder for all of us.