A near fatal encounter with a car in 2011 launched a Georgia man on a crusade to memorialize every cyclist killed on the road by placing ghost bikes -- bicycles stripped to the frame and painted white -- at crash sites, first in Georgia then in surrounding states as well. Despite personal sacrifices, he is driven to force cycling deaths into the public’s awareness and ultimately to make streets safer.

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In the U.S., one cyclist is killed by a car or truck every seven hours. One pedestrian is killed every hour. Through the story of David Mathews' crusade and the personal price he has paid for it, the Ghost Bikes documentary asks why we accept cyclist and pedestrian deaths as a necessary and unavoidable cost of people getting around freely in cars. The documentary explores contributing issues including roads designed to make driving convenient but walking and cycling treacherous, traffic laws that prioritize the flow of cars over the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, police who are too quick to excuse drivers and blame cyclists and pedestrians for their own deaths, and drivers who are too nonchalant about operating a deadly machine. And it explores the political reason why these preventable problems persist and highlights the people and organizations pushing back.

The Ghost Bikes documentary will raise awareness of why our transportation system kills so many cyclists and pedestrians every year and how it can be fixed. More importantly, It will encourage the cycling community to fight for their safety on the roads.

The primary goal of the Ghost Bikes project is to foster dialogue about making our steets safer and to move audiences to action. To further this goal, the project will include a comprehensive toolkit to help anyone interested in safer streets host community screenings and discussions with proceeds going to support transportation and bicycle advocacy organizations.

John Perry worked more than 30 years as a print journalist. His work has been recognized with the Dart Award for Coverage of Trauma, the Hillman Prize for Newspaper Journalism, a Barlett & Steele bronze medal for investigative business journalism and an Atlanta Press Club Award of Excellence. He was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Journalism and is a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. As technical director of the Atlanta Journal Constitution data journalism team, John led a group of data journalists who made crucial contributions to many of the AJC’s most impactful investigations, including the series, Doctors and Sex Abuse, which was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting. John’s first short documentary, Listening to The Plants, won best documentary at the 2025 Georgia Shorts Film Festival.

As a competitive road racer, a recreational rider or someone who just enjoys getting places by means other than a car, bicycles have always been an important part of John’s life. This documentary project is inspired by the death of his friend and cycling companion Travis Neumuller.