Here's the important part: "I have been in only one crash and it was caused by unattended pedestrian children on a bike path and my own desperate desire to avoid them as they blocked said path entirely." I avoid urban streets and will put my bike on the back of my car to ride a few miles out of the city into rural areas where there is little or no shoulder on the roads, and have had really no issues at all. It's on the MUPs, where I also occassionally ride where the danger is; unleashed dogs and children running amok and causing havoc!