Panorama City Cyclist Finally ID’d

The news has been covered lately by deaths in the roadway of those biking or walking.

Even those that stay away from the issues of street safety are starting to take notice.

Still, looking at the big picture leaves out many of the details.

When I was part of the group that placed the ghost bike in Panorama City a couple of weeks ago, I feared memory of the incident would soon fade.

All we knew about the deceased was that it was a male in his 20’s presumed homeless because he was hauling recycliables at an ungodly hour.

This incident didn’t happen in a high profile area, nor was this person deemed of interest enough to do an exhaustive search.

Over the weekend, I got a message from Lori Loretta saying that she had just learned that it was her father, Peter, who had passed away.

Ten days after the collision.

Living in Arizona, Lori told me he was actually 49 years old and she doesn’t have any information about the person of interest involved.

GBPan10

I reached back to her, asking if there was anything I could do, but I never heard back, which is understandable with me interjecting as a total stranger.

I still can’t put this down thinking this will all be glossed over just as another “accident”.

Credit the Daily News for being the only news source to follow through on the story, but please change your title head from using the “A” word.

You might as well rename it “traffic gaffes”, “ooopsies” or “these things happen” if responsibility behind the wheel is unimportant to you.

The sad part is even without a voice, a larger statement is being made with our landscape littered with these ghost bikes.

These may be a visual representation of a life lost, but we are getting to a point where that there’s so much that it will get personal to everyone.

A family member, a friend of a friend. Until we do something about our safety, these calamities are only inevitable.

There may not be a memorial fund set up for Peter Loretta and the driver will probably not even get a slap on the wrist.

Odds are you’ll never go past the ghost bike, but there is still something you can do.

Since I imagine you found this article on social media, why not post something that shows you care. Whether about this incident or something else, let all your friends know that people do care about the situation in our streets.

Eventually, people will do something if we raise our level of chatter. It just takes seconds.

Make a noise.