Laura Keenan initially wanted nothing to do with the spot on Camino del Rio South in Mission Valley where her husband, Matt, was struck and killed by a wrong-way driver while riding his bike.
But eventually that roadside location became meaningful to her and her young son, Evan, who would wave at the “ghost bike” — a bike painted white that marks the site of a rider’s death — each time they drove past. About a month after Matt’s September 2021 death, they hung a banner celebrating what would have been his 43rd birthday. A different banner commemorated his 44th birthday.
Laura and Evan Keenan at Matt Keenan’s Mission Valley ghost bike memorial in November 2022, about 13 months after the deadly crash, on what would have been Matt’s 44th birthday.
(Laura Keenan)
“It was important to have a public memorial that was more than just an anonymous ghost bike,” Laura Keenan said Sunday. She wanted the memorial, located between Texas Street and Mission Center Road, to be a reflection of her husband, who she said was happy and full of life.
So it was all the more devastating when she was informed earlier this month that someone had burned and destroyed the memorial.
“I wanted to cry and yell at the same time,” Keenan said. “I worked so hard to make that spot something that is human and that we wanted to visit. The fact that someone would do this to a memorial was infuriating and re-traumatizing.”
About two weeks after it was destroyed on Jan. 5, San Diego police announced they had identified a 32-year-old suspect and arrested him on suspicion of arson. From Keenan’s understanding, the man was unhoused and trying to steal the bike — which was unusable — but set fire to it when he couldn’t break the lock.
About three dozen people gathered Sunday to install a new ghost bike and hang a new banner in Matt’s honor, joining Laura and Evan, who was 15-months old when his father was killed, and Matt’s parents.
Laura Keenan speaks Sunday during an event to reinstall a ghost bike memorial.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Doug Hoffman from the group San Diego Bicycle Collective, who found out about the Kennans’ story after Matt’s memorial was destroyed, provided the new ghost bike. The memorials are typically older, broken bikes that have been stripped of key components and painted almost entirely white.
“I didn’t appreciate it until I was there today how fast people go” on that stretch of Camino del Rio South, Hoffman said. “And not only do people drive very fast, but the bike path is just a very little, narrow strip … full of weeds that force you out into the road.”
Doug Hoffman from San Diego Bicycle Collective prepares to paint a donated bike on Jan. 23 in San Diego in preparation for Sunday’s event to replace the destroyed ghost bike.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A new ghost bike was installed Sunday on Camino del Rio South, surrounded by white flowers.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The night Matt was killed, he was equipped with bright lights and wearing a helmet — but none of that mattered when the driver crossed into the opposite lane and hit him.
“From the moment he was killed, I just knew it didn’t have to happen,” said Keenan, who has become an advocate for pedestrians and bike riders. “I just knew his death was preventable.”
Keenan has founded Families for Safe Streets San Diego, a group made of people who have lost loved ones to traffic collisions or have survived serious crashes. The group‘s advocacy is focused on urging elected leaders to make sure roads are as safe as possible.
Laura Keenan helps her son, Evan Keenan, 3, put on a helmet before heading to Sunday’s event.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Keenan said there are two items that she and her group have advocated for Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Council to adopt immediately. One is to fix the “Fatal Fifteen” intersections in the city where the most pedestrians and cyclists were killed from 2018 to 2022. The list includes major intersections along some of San Diego’s main thoroughfares, including El Cajon Boulevard, Federal Boulevard, Linda Vista Road, Palm Avenue and Market Street.
Keenan said the city could also commit to installing protected bike lanes each time it is fixing or repaving a street, since doing so at that time is easier and more cost effective.
She said the city recently announced a new plan to dramatically invest in improving road conditions. “As they do this, we’re asking they consider the safety of the most vulnerable road users,” Keenan said.
“We know how to make safer streets,” she said. “It’s just a question of making it happen.”
A pillow in the Keenan home is adorned with a photo of Evan and his late father, Matt. Evan was 15 months old when his father was killed.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
