"Ghost" Bicycle Placed at Park Avenue Site of Mark Leones Accident

A white-painted "ghost" bicycle has been placed at the Park Avenue location where Mark Leones was killed last month in a single-bike accident.

The bike, which is non-operational, is currently locked to a guardrail at the site where Leones, 28, a Costa Mesa resident, lost control of his bicycle and crashed October 16. He suffered fatal head and chest injuries despite wearing a helmet.

The idea of placing white "ghost" bicycles as a way to memorialize fallen cyclists has become popular in recent years after originating in St. Louis in 2003. According to the website ghostbikes.org:

Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists' right to safe travel.

Currently there are over 450 ghost bikes that have since appeared in over 150 locations throughout the world. For those who create and install the memorials, the death of a fellow bicyclist hits home. We all travel the same unsafe streets and face the same risks; it could just as easily be any one of us. Each time we say we hope to never have to do it again -- but we remain committed to making these memorials as long as they are needed.

A white cross has also been placed at the Park Avenue crash site as a tribute to Leones. Written comments from some of Leones' friends have been written on the cross, and there are several candles and flower bouquets, an expansion of the small but respectful tribute that grew at the spot in the days after Leones' death.

It isn't known how long the bicycle will remain.

In a Laguna Beach-related event, local resident Robert Eugene "Roberto" Hyndman, 51, was killed in another single-bicycle accident this past Saturday near Malibu. Hyndman, like Leones, was wearing a helmet.