Originally Posted by
Hot Potato
Jay was killed biking home from work more than a week ago in Tempe. Investigators said he was hit by a car as he rode through a crosswalk at McClintock and Alameda drives.
“He sold his second car with the idea that he would take up biking and ride to work which is probably 10 to 12 miles away,” said Jay’s father, John Fretz. “He knew that was a dangerous thing to do.”
I would want to know more about the incident. Learn from it, and if I had anything in common with this tragedy, see if I could make changes. I would not call riding a bike dangerous, any more than I would call the rest of life's activities, including being sedentary, dangerous. I am also having trouble understanding what "rode through a cross walk" means. If it means that he was riding on the sidewalk and using the crosswalks to go through intersections, it has long been an A&S tennet that riding in pedestrian areas is more dangerous than riding in traffic. I also have a family, but refuse to stop living because it might kill me. I did mitigate my guilt and fears with a mondo life insurance policy.
+1 This.
I would love to get full reports of all the "bicycle related" accidents around here, and analyze why they really happened. The one time i saw some figures on that sort of thing, a pretty high % was dummies riding with no lights, against traffic, sailing through intersections against the lights, drunk, things like that.
Not saying if you don't do that you're safe, we're none of us getting out of this alive, life is dangerous.
And as for playing the odds, what was that report that said the increase in life expectancy more than made up for the increased risk of cycle commuting?
To the OP, if you feel bad about it, or you can't take the risk, it's your life, not ours. Do what you gotta do.