pallen

yep - how many people died or where seriously injured in car accidents in LA last year? Its not like driving is 100% safe either.

Commodus

Yea, probably a good chunk of those were people doing really silly things on bikes.

I see homeless people riding at night with no lights, going the wrong way on busy roads. Using sidewalks if available. These guys aren't 'cyclists', they're crazy people doing crazy things...who happen to be on a bike. But if they get hit, the newspaper says "CYCLIST STRUCK AND KILLED. NOT WEARING HELMET."

JohnMajor

There are a lot of good suggestions so far. You might look for the Traffic 101 course offered by the League of American Bicyclists, I found it to be a great confidence booster and allowed me to ask questions of experienced riders, as well as gain some time actually riding on city streets to practice what we learned in class and readings. See: https://www.bikeleague.org/programs/e...e_schedule.php

If you have the luxury of scheduling when you ride, I've noticed a big difference between morning traffic and traffic after 2 pm or so -- more attitude than volume. Maybe lots of people have bad days at work. I also avoid riding close to dawn and dusk when the rising/setting sun may blind drivers to bicyclists on the road.

merlinextraligh

Don't know where that number comes from, and it seems a bit high, given that total cycling fatalities nationwide is below 1000.

But even taken as true, subtract the number killed, that were children darting into traffic, drunk cyclists, wrong way riders, and riding at night without proper lights, and the number of cyclists killed that are not doing those things, and are obeying traffic laws, and exercising some skill and judgment is pretty low.

Lower than the number who die from laying on the couch.

merlinextraligh

And pray for me, I'm riding in LA traffic tonight while I'm out here on business.

Carbon Unit

Where in LA? I am Orange County south of LA
and we have some great riding here.

merlinextraligh

Century City.

Assuming I get out of work in time, I think I'm going to head up into the hills toward Mullholand from Beverly Hills.

Timomatt

I thought the same

weshigh

Where are you riding at in LA? I ride from Silver Lake to Santa Monica and back almost every day.

jmX

biking in LA blog keeps track of cycling related deaths. Truth be told I'm not that worried about getting killed, it's much more likely to get sent to the hospital from a less severe cycling accident. People get hit by cars here all the time, the deaths are less common...and sure, many of those deaths are not "cyclists", but more "people on bikes".

When I'm commuting, I'm taking a risk in my car because I have to pay my mortgage. When I'm out exercising on the road with cars, that's "play" time. I'll get my exercise one way or another, and road riding in LA proper would be my least preferred and most risky choice of exercise I have at my disposal. I live south of LA, and I work north of LA and I've lived in various spots here over the past 6 years so I've been all over here. Vast swaths of LA county are unridable to me. Risk > reward for a lot of the urban areas. It's not all bad of course, and I previously pointed out some really great areas to ride in this thread.

Again, just IMO. Many others will disagree - each person has a different tolerance.

RT

The best way to overcome is to ride with confidence and awareness. Ride like you belong there and you are less likely to succumb to the will of idiots. Don't get me wrong, idiots are quite prevalent, but riding scared almost makes you invisible.

spunkyj

The stats kept in Toronto are very interesting (2003 Report):
https://www.toronto.ca/transportation...report_ch3.pdf

Page 35 gives collision types by frequency, and page 37 by severity. Note that "motorist overtaking" is the most frequent fatality in Toronto, followed by intersection related deaths. However, we are dealing with small number statistics, so significant conclusions are hard to draw. But it seems like the fatalities are indeed road users, not sidewalk cyclists and kids.

pallen

What if you commute to work on your bicycle I get what you are saying though. There are certainly many roads around here I will not ride on and some areas of town I don't really try to find ways through.

merlinextraligh

I agree that it's an individual decision based on an idividual's view of risk/reward. And there are definitely places in LA I'd prefer not to ride.

While I've been on breaks in my meeting today, I've been on RidewithGPS trying to figure out how to connect residential streets to stay off Wilshire drive riding around Beverly Hills.

In my experience, (at least for my level of tolernace) you can ride around LA with some careful picking of routes.

Carbon Unit

Malibu would be good but it is farther away. Century City is mostly high rise buildings it isn't a great place to ride as far as I can see.

I love riding in Palos Verdes but again probably too far if you are getting out of work late.

weshigh

The Google Maps bicycle layer does a decent job of showing some bike friendly streets along with bike lanes. I avoid Beverly Hills as much as I can until the city gets its head out if its butt in regard to bikes. Once you are north of Santa Monica Blvd(in Beverly Hills) its pretty clam, just lots of stop signs when heading east/west.

Velo Vol 

There's some benefit to riding in a steady (not hesitatingly) manner. But if a single idiot driver isn't paying attention, it doesn't matter how much confidence you ride with.

krobinson103

Amen to that. My motorcycle took $700 worth of damage thanks to an idiot truck driver who was tailgating. There really was nothing I could have done to avoid that accident.

RT

You omitted the last part of my post which states the same

uclamutt

Excellent advice.

I also had a bad crash with a car and had a lot of anxiety for riding with traffic again. Once physically recovered I began riding in areas with minimal traffic and slowly worked up to riding in more congested areas.

Staying visible and predictable are great suggestions. Good luck!

Wesley36

+1. All the rest is theory, there is nothing like learning to ride on the road with people who are more experienced and knowledgeable. Especially if your problem is *feeling* intimidated, I cannot think of a better solution. It is actually shocking that it took until page 3 for someone to suggest it.

Radh

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm looking into a traffic course, maybe boost up my confidence.

icyclist 

I tried mirrors long ago. They aren't for me, I just take a quick look behind me when I have to move left or right. I think if you use a mirror to try to follow the path of a swerving car, YOU'RE going to swerve into a curb, a parked car or a light pole.

I'm sure some people have great stories about avoiding cars, outrunning a tyrannosaurs rex, etc. I think almost all of the time, though, mirrors are worthless, except for the income they generate for people who make and market them.

rangerdavid

taking "bad risks" on the road is stupid. fear of vehicles that can kill you is a healthy fear. ride in traffic, obey the rules, be visible when you ride, ride predictably so drivers will know what you are doing or going to do, and it's still dangerous. however, being a road cyclist and not riding on the road makes you a pedestrian, or worse yet, a mountain biker.

Bike Gremlin

I guess, at least in my city, the most dangerous are places where roads cross bicycle lanes. People don't look. Just this morning I was riding to work in a hurry. Doing some decent 35-40 km/h on a public road. As I approached inner city, I thought: better to use bike lanes now. It is slower, but safer, don't want to test my luck. So I turn to bicycle lane, go some 20-25 km/h.

Just after a 100 meters, a kid runs in front of me. I slam on the brakes, shout, he stops just in time. I roll on, just as I speed up back to 20ish, a car turns right from the main road. View was blocked by parked cars. I slam brakes, slow down, hit the side of the car and roll over it's hood. Luckily, the guy stopped so I got away without a bruise.

So, road feels safer for me. If there wasn't stupid law that says I must use bicycle lane where there is one, I'd never leave the road.