cycling.finial.com

Column: If only drivers shared the road, cyclists would be safer

A column that reflects my own experience. Expect the haters to pounce on this.

The comments to this are entirely predictable.

“Bikes don’t come to a complete stop at stop signs”
I’ll plead guilty to this sometimes. But I’m willing to wager that I come to a stop far more often that cars.

“Bikes weave through traffic”
I’ll plead guilty to this occasionally too. But only in the city, and it’s far safer for me to do that than to sit there inhaling some bus exhaust pipe, or wait for the guy behind me to start leaning on the horn and deliberately run me down (which, by the way, has happened).

“Bikes don’t ride the right”
I won’t cop to to this. I follow the law here. I ride as far right as I safely can, which is what the law calls for. It does not require that I ride through potholes that will upend me, it does require that I ride through sand, glass or other debris, nor does it require that I ride through the lethal door lane. It allows me to take the lane if I feel it is necessary to preserve my safety.

and my favorite: “The Lance wannabe clothes are stupid”
This is barely worth comment, but it probably comes from someone who wears sweats to watch TV and wouldn’t think of stepping onto the ball diamond without full kit. Go to the gym in a suit and tie, do you? Do you know what cycling kit is all about?

The bottom line is cars and trucks are 2000 pounds of lethal steel. Bikes are about 20-30 pounds. Add the rider, and it might reach 200, with most of the that being very exposed flesh and bone. The piloting of that one ton missile comes with a responsibility of manouvering it safely. Cycling comes with its responsibility too, but crashing a bike into car isn’t likely to kill the driver, while the reverse is all too common.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 12:17 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.