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@tom.
The point is that cyclists are disproportionately vulnerable.
Pedestrians have pavements, on which there are no vehicles. Where there are no pavements (i.e. in the country), a fatility involving a pedestrian would have fairly high profile and changes would almost certainly be made.
Car drivers have metal boxes round them and they are the people that are injuring each other. There isn't another demographic endangering them.
Motorbikes are a slightly better example though. Personally, I think that the fact that they have an engine (which in turns means that they can get out of dangerous situations more easily, as well as not being exposed to the risks of impatient drivers trying to over take them, etc) makes them less vulnerable than cyclists to injury by another form of transport.
To me, ghost bikes play an important role in highlighting the fact that cyclists are vulnerable and that their needs need to be addressed in future transport planning. They also serve to remind other road users that a "shunt" between a car driver and a cyclist could have grave repercussions, let alone a higher speed collision.
Ghost bikes are in no worse taste than any other memorial. A war memorial is arguably in far worst taste as having it isn't going to cause a direct change in attitude among people that see it; no lives will be saved because people see a war memorial in the morning. Who ever got sleepy after a heavy lunch and as a result started a war?