You quoted my personal thoughts on ghost bikes (Ghost bikes: memento mori or wrong signal?, 11 November), taking one sentence from a much longer conversation, so I would like to clarify my views.

As a director of Mosquito Bikes in Islington, I want to encourage more people to take up cycling and enjoy its benefits but have often been told by new customers considering buying a bike that they are put off by being reminded of the dangers cyclists face on London roads. I agree with Hannah Caller (Letters, 16 November) that much more needs to be done by the mayor on cycle safety and training and improved technology for HGV drivers. However, I have been cycling in London for 30 years and every day I see cyclists put themselves in danger.

There is a ghost bike memorial at a junction close to where I live and which I pass most days on my bike. If alongside being a memorial the ghost bike also marks a place for cyclists to take extra care, I am not convinced that it works. Most days I see other cyclists line up against the very railings where someone has died, and I have tried to suggest to them that they should join me in front of the traffic. Their response is to give me a funny look and remain (often holding onto the railings) where they will be trapped if a large vehicle turns left.

Ghost bikes may work as memorials, but they are not helping cyclists in general either to think about how they navigate junctions or to understand that, if we all hold the road just in front of vehicles, we will be safer.

Gill Ord

London