Ghost Bikes

The other day, my neighborhood run took me past this:

This is a Ghost Bike and sadly, they are all over Houston. The Ghost Bike project is an international memorial to bicyclists across the world who have lost their lives in cycling accidents. The vast majority of ghost bikes represent a cyclist who was hit by a car. These stripped down, white bikes are placed in the exact spot (or as near to as possible) of the tragedies. Somber (and still beautiful) reminders of what can happen on the road.  Seeing so many of these recently pop up in Houston had been a sad awakening. 

What this particular bike reminded me is that we all share the road and we need to do a better job of it. I can't tell you how often I see people cruise through the stop sign near my house as I run up to it. I'm definitely scared of what could happen if a driver isn't paying attention while we share the road. I do my very bet to make sure I'm seen, always running on the correct side of the street, wearing reflective clothing, and even strapping a blinking light on somewhere. But, I know that it just takes one small lapse in concentration by a passing driver for things to go all wrong for me. And, if I'm going to be totally honest (and I promised you I would be), I am guilty of being an inattentive driver.  How many times have I driven, pulled up to my destination, and wondered to myself how I ended up there, unable to recall any details of the drive?  I think the point of this entry is that we all have room for improvement, if we are on our feet, two wheels, or four, we could all stand to pay a little more attention to one another. After all, we are all sharing the same road together. Let's just make sure we don't start seeing white running shoes piling up around our city.