Cycling’s Obsession With Safety
It astounds me that a cyclist will spend an extra thousand dollars to shave a few grams off the weight of their bike only to add hundreds more in ever more expensive bits of safety gadgets. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be as safe as the next guy, but it has gotten out of hand.
Instead of demanding sane urban speed limits and rigid law enforcement, that has worked the world over, we add ever more gadgets with ever more marginal gains. The focus is all wrong.
First it was ever more complex and expensive rear view mirrors. I have owned them all. Nothing works better than these novelty sunglasses. I usually keep a few on hand at the shop for $10.
According to The NTSB, if you eliminate court appointed cyclists, children, bike ninjas and salmon riders*, cycling is safer than high school contact sports (many non-contact too).
I can’t prove it, but if you deduct those who edge ride, those numbers drop even further. When you consider the fact that most in The Quad Cities haul their bikes to ride on segregated paths, the numbers get rediculous. You might as well start worrying about eye injuries from Tidly Winks (go ask your grandpa son).
We blind each other with ever brighter, and expensive flashing headlights and don’t even ride on the street! From the rear we’re lit up like a fire truck. The fact is, even with the exclusions noted above, most bike vs motorist collisions are from the side, in passing, at intersections! Heck, folks are even investing in cameras and RADAR (no kidding)!
Look, I get it. We want others to think our cycling is akin to Evil Knievel. The fact is, humans are predators. Flailing legs, high center windshield, is going to distract us from the most engrossing sext message. When was the last you heard a motorist say they didn’t see the squirrel they ran over? Folks, they see us.
After more than 30 years of year round bike commuting, I am more convinced than ever that almost all bike vs car collisions are the result of harassment out of hand. If we are honest with ourselves, we fear being startled and honked at more than being hit. Don’t react. They’ll get bored and move on…yeah, I know, easier said than done.
Of course, use some common sense. If a lane, trail or MUP gets you where you’re going without taking you miles out of the way, use it. Don’t ride at night without both lights and reflectors, but on the street, take your lane. You have no where to ditch riding in the gutter, trying to share your lane (plus, that is where you’ll find glass and broken pavement). Motorists will then know they have to change lanes to pass just like when approaching parked service trucks and other slow moving vehicles. It’s actually easier to pass a slow moving bicycle. They are still moving as they wait for a safe way to pass (you can always pull over if traffic starts to back up). It will not take a minute out of their day.
You know me. I am not the most skilled cyclist, fast or strong. I’m certainly not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. There has to be a shred of truth to all this as I have never been hit by a car in way over a hundred thousand miles of bicycle commuting alone (not including club rides, training or touring). Most of that was before our MUP’s connected allowing us to actually go places on them… lots of street riding. The lights for which I paid a fortune in The 90’s were worse than the cheapest rechargeables you can buy at Walmart today.
Yes, we need to get speeding under control. Timed lights, traffic calming, lanes and segregated paths are ideal. In the mean time, let’s not miss out on good enough waiting on perfection.
*Bike Ninjas ride at night without lights and reflectors. Salmon ride against traffic. Children make bad decisions and drunks are… drunk!