To ride in the city safely:

1. Helmet. Try running as fast as you can, leaping in the air, and landing with your head spearing a curb. Now try it with a helmet. Obvious choice.

2. Position in the lane. If the road is wide enough for a car to pass you safely, then stay to the right so they can do so. When doing so, beware of parked cars' doors suddenly opening (that's called "getting doored"); look for heads in those cars, if one is occupied, stay clear. If the road is too narrow, then ride in the center of the lane ("take the lane"). If you are thus holding up traffic, either ride faster or pull over and let cars pass. Just like you'd do if you were driving a very slow car on a one lane road. A mirror, preferably helmet-mounted, helps you keep track of what is behind you. If there is a redneck pickup truck zooming up behind me intent on giving the bike rider a close shave, I prefer to be forewarned.

3. "Right hooks." The most common fatal bike accident in the city is when you are riding on the right edge of the road and a car suddenly turns right and cuts you off. A couple of people are killed every year this way, in Portland. Cars do this at intersections, driveways, and sometimes to snatch a parking space. When approaching an intersection, don't ride to the right or the rear-right of a car; slow down if you must. When passing driveways and parking spaces, at least be alert. Also, when you are stopped at an intersection, remember how easy it is for a driver to turn right when the light goes green and drive right over you. If they are in a large comnercial-type truck they may be unable to see you way down there; other times they are looking for pedestrians and other cars, not for a bike tucked in by their passenger fender. Either stop well back from the limit line and all the way to the right; or right smack in the left-middle of the lane so the car is behind you, and can turn right in the space you've left open.

4. Ride like a car. This means obeying the rules of the road and behaving like a driver. Don't swerve around, cut sharply across lanes, jump back and forth between sidewalk and street, ride against the direction of traffic ("salmoning"), blow through lights and stop signs. If you are more predictable and give hand signals, drivers have an easier time avoiding you. On stop signs - I don't come to a full stop if there is no traffic, but I slow down to walking speed, look both ways, then go through.

5. Be very visible. If you ride at night with no lights or dark clothes, you deserve to be hit. Drivers can't see ninja bicyclists. Heck, on my bike, I can't see ninja bicyclists. They appear out of nowhere, and only by luck are they not run down. Their luck doesn't always work. So, I don't care how poor you are, spend $40 on a bright blinking headlight and a bright blinking taillight, use them whenever it is dark, dusk, raining, or anything but bright and sunny. Mount the tailight as high as possible, on your helmet or your back pack is more visible than down low on your bike, but anywhere is better than nothing. Helmet is also a great place for the headlight if you can mount it securely and safely. Spend another $10 for reflective tape and stick it on your helmet, your bike, your backpack. And wear a bright jacket, it doesn't have to be day-glo yellow, but that is the most visible.

6. Assume you are invisible. Doing all of the above will keep you safe around the 90% of drivers who are alert and careful. There is the 10% who are so careless, tired, drunk, distracted that they will drive right over you even if you're in fluorescent orange head to toe in broad daylight. They simply don't register that you are there. Their eyes may see you but their brains don't process. So do what old motorcyclists do: assume that no-one sees you. Actually the really old motorcyclists assume that every driver is out to kill them, but on a bicycle, with merely a 1/4 HP engine, I find that level of paranoia is merely exhausting.

7. Stay off the sidewalk. It is for pedestrians. No-one expects to see a bicycle there. People will open doors in your face, veer into your path, cars will run you down in driveways. Okay, when the road is really dangerous I will get on the sidewalk for a block or so, but I'm riding very slowly, at walking speed, just until I can turn off to a safer street.

Sounds like a lot to remember, and it is at first. Riding a bike in the city is a learned skill just like driving a car in the city. Your results and your survival are mostly up to you; luck is a minor part of it. I started riding a bike in the city when I was 8 y/o. Today I ride in the city, among cars and buses, every day. Zero accidents with cars, only 1 solo accident and that was at 15 y/o. Safety isn't just luck. Stay safe!