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The loved ones of Giuseppe Di Gioacchino gathered Sunday morning in a Saint-Léonard parking lot to honour the memory of the 89-year-old Montrealer who was struck by a vehicle there in May.
The collision took place near the intersection of Jarry and Langelier streets on May 12. Di Gioacchino died of his injuries 12 days later.
Along with elected officials and representatives from Souliers et vélos fantômes Québec (SVFQ), his family installed a pair of white “ghost shoes” in the parking lot in memory of him.
Similar to ghost bikes, which mark the site of cyclist deaths, ghost shoes work as both a vigil and a call to action for pedestrian safety.
The shoes placed in honour of Di Gioacchino are the fourth pair put up by SVFQ, a group which works to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians in the province.
Along with elected officials and representatives from Souliers et vélos fantômes Québec (SVFQ), Di Gioacchino’s family installed a pair of white “ghost shoes” in the parking lot in memory of him. (Aatefeh Padidar/CBC)
Giuseppe Di Gioacchino’s son, Dino Di Gioacchino, who heard about the incident from a family member by phone, says his father was struck by a vehicle making a U-turn in the parking lot.
“I was just in shock,” Dino said. “I couldn’t believe that my father had been hit by a car.”
Giuseppe had been trying to get into the passenger side of his car when he was hit and pinned between the two vehicles.
“He was a victim, the time he had left was taken from him,” said Giuseppe’s other son, Sandro, a motorcycle instructor. “Everyone who will be in this parking lot will see that Giuseppe Di Gioacchino died here.”
Sandro says that the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), which was not represented at the vigil, should reform driver education in the province and ensure that it is taught with more rigour.
In 2025, 75 pedestrians lost their lives in Quebec in automobile collisions. Driver inattention was the factor most frequently cited as the probable cause of fatal crashes involving pedestrians, according to the SAAQ.
Eighteen of the fatal collisions were in Montreal alone, according to the Service de police de la ville de Montréal’s 2025 annual review report.
Similar to ghost bikes, which mark the site of cyclist deaths, ghost shoes work as both a vigil and a call to action for pedestrian safety. (Aatefeh Padidar/CBC)
“We’re all connected,” Sandro Di Gioacchino said. “This person who ran over my father, I don’ t know who they are, but they impacted me and my whole family forever.”
Advocate urges caution
Séverine Le Page of SVFQ, who was present at the ceremony, says that the danger of parking lots is often overlooked, and that people should be aware of the danger they pose for pedestrians of all ages.
“The [ghost shoes] are reminders of the danger of being a pedestrian in a big city,” she said. “Two-tonne vehicles … can inflict harm and danger and sometimes, unfortunately, death.”
Le Page wants people to remember the weight of the responsibility of getting behind the wheel.
“You have to be careful in every situation,” she said. “In personal driveways, in parking lots: These are overrepresented for injuries.”
Dominic Perri, mayor of the borough of Saint-Léonard, spoke at the memorial. He promised to review the parking lot going forward.
More road fatalities
The memorial-installation ceremony came in the wake of a number of other recent road deaths in Quebec, including that of an 11-year-old boy who was fatally struck while riding his bicycle in Quebec City’s Beauport borough in June.
Plans for a ghost bike to honour his memory were called off after the family received hateful messages.
“It was very shocking to the whole province,” said Le Page, commenting on the hate the family endured.
“Normally, people have sympathy and they understand” — especially, she noted, when the victim is a child.
In another recent incident in Montreal, an 18-year-old cyclist was killed by a motorist in a hit-and-run collision in the city’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough on Friday. A police investigation into the crash is ongoing.
The SAAQ website reminds drivers to be alert to pedestrians and to obey speed limits, check blind spots and yield.