Crash aftermath: Fort Collins to host another Colorado ghost bike

 
Jim Fogelberg was 64 when he died in Fort Collins about a month ago, peddling along in the bike lane at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday, helmet on, moving through an intersection, when a driver in a pickup took what became a fatal left turn.

Fogelberg was one of a growing number of bicyclists killed in traffic accidents each year in the U.S., where something like 800 people die and tens of thousands are injured. The rate of fatalities has been spiking in Colorado. Last year the number of bike deaths rose 60 percent in the state, according to the Vail Daily.

The deaths have left a trail of ghost bikes along Colorado roads — eery, riderless, white-washed bicycles set up at the scene of fatal accidents to mark the death and to raise awareness. The informal ghost bike movement has been setting up memorials at accident sites around the world for the last decade.

Fort Collins will host another ghost bike starting this Sunday at 2 p.m., a memorial to Fogelberg. It’s being placed by the Fort Collins Bike Co-op at the scene of the accident: Hinsdale Drive and Harmony Road.

“I wanted to help place this memorial as a reminder to all motorists that cyclists are vulnerable road users and that we all need to be extra careful and vigilant,” said Terri Marty, a Fort Collins trauma surgeon, in a release.

A plaque zip-tied to the bike is a Fogelberg quote. “Aren’t you afraid of getting hit by drivers?” his brother in law reportedly asked him, in reference to his love of long rides. “I will not be afraid to live my life,” he replied, according to his wife.