You should ask why he prefers one route over another. It may be a temporary problem. The police officer may not understand what you are doing, he may assume you are there to buy/sell/deliver drugs.

I agree with mr disturbing avatar that awareness is important... which is why I mentionedAs to which is more important -- training, practice, or awareness -- I propose a drinking/shooting match -- winner gets to rank those activities in order of importance.

Hmmm, seems my attention to detail is going the way of Jeff's
I always get confused whether to shoot up my drinking or drink up my shooting.

OK - this thread is way off base. later on from me.

One thing - people can not, or "should not" recommend gun ownership to strangers over the Internet.
(they can suggest that gun ownership exists)

Comparison of risks is impossible in many situations.

You do realize that that beer is metaphorical, and does not represent actual alcohol, right?

Shhh...I was thinking it would be fun to watch him try to pry the little mugs off his screen.

Getting precise estimates is pretty difficult. But I think that you can get some descriptive statistics that should help put things in the right ballpark then use your head to subjectively adjust them. Often you can reasonably determine something about the relative risk if a parameter or two is of different magnitudes.

Richard Cranium: can we get a map of the route you take now and the route the cop wants yo to take? Any Google Streetviews of them? Or maybe post pics of the cop's route so we can see what it looks like?

It's too bad we can't Google to see that route through the cop's eyes with his thoughts on audio. That would be kewl.

Anyway, back on topic-- what about a third route that avoids both problems? Would that be possible?

+1
There are neighborhoods in my area where the cops are, or at least were, legally authorized to stop anyone simply for being there. They would pull over any middle-class looking white person, especially younger ones, question them and attempt to get consent to a search, etc. on the assumption that the only reason for their presence there is to buy/sell drugs. If asked why they were stopped, the cop won't admit the real reason but will just make something up, often a safety related excuse. After all, a cop doesn't like to admit that he's acting in service of a basically fascist/racist policy.

Maybe the cop was taking this tack, made a decision that you were o.k., and then wanted to legitimize himself without coming right out and saying what his real reason was for stopping you. I have had this exact same thing happen to me twice (in a car) when I was in insurance sales in my mid 20's. They didn't know that I knew that I was in one of these "designated high drug traffic" areas and it sounds better to tell me it was for my own safety than it does to say that my mere presence made me suspicious.

Cops who spend most of their time cruising bad neighborhoods will often overestimate the danger as compared to the danger of riding among traffic. Cops who patrol high accident roads will likely have the same bias but in the other direction. They're only human after all, they're both "insulated" to some extent by their cars and neither has any particular expertise to evaluate the relative risk in the context of cycling. That's up to you. Neither cop will go out of his way to protect you from either danger.

Personally, I'm less intimidated by a few thugs on the street than a thug or three in a blacked-out cage (or a text messaging suburban kid for that matter). Your situation may be different.

It is so difficult to assess the "dangerousness" of a neighborhood. I ride through a few dicey areas on my midnight commute, unfortunately.

The police, as in this case, are probably agood source of information. Keep in mind that a street officer may have a jaded view. He/she is perhaps overly aware of the dangers in an area, since they're responding to trouble calls day in and day out. Many cities post crime maps on the Web. Search for one in your city.

I was reassured to discover that a rowdy neighborhood near my house reported a lot of domestic assaults and various disorderly complaints, but no armed robberies or aggravated assaults in the past year. This neighborhood, which looks and sounds dangerous, is actually pretty safe to ride through. Muggers probably avoid areas where a lot of people are outside fighting with their spouses and neighbors.

Another quieter neighborhood reported three armed robberies in the last year, according to the crime map. I now ride one block over to avoid that seemingly "safe" neighborhood. It is very helpful to see the crime statistics on a map when you're planning a commute route.

Absolutely right on advice! And to those who don't know chipcom, he's eminently qualified to give advice in this area.

I would add another concept related to situational awareness. This is mental rehearsal or imaging of an emergency situation. Simply put, you should imagine realistic situations and picture yourself responding to them in a competent and realistic manner.

While commuting, I randomly imagine that I'm faced with a mugger on foot, bike or car. I imagine what I would do if that happened right now. The idea is that if you've thought through your responses beforehand, you will act better if the situation actually occurs.

I found this mental rehearsal to be very useful when I was chased by a bike mugger last year. I barely managed to outride him. If I had wasted even one second thinking about what to do, he probably would have caught me.

(BTW I've also used mental rehearsal to prepare myself for traffic emergencies, such as a car pulling out in front of me.)

I thought that was only in Utah...

Thanks for all the comments - again - I met with the Police Department Representative today.

The original question was whether I should give credence to a police officer's advice to avoid a "dangerous neighborhood." The expanded inference was whether I could "recommend" this route to other cyclists or cycling groups.

In an hour-long discussion with police, including a street by street analysis and comparison of routes it was determined that for my "personal" use - the dangerous neighborhood was not only acceptable but probably the safer route. But as a representative of the "official" county government the response was that there was "no way" of determining the safer route. (The advisory is that each cyclist must determine their relative risks of each route.) In other words -no comment.

It should be understood - that "hypothetical s" or various other time/action parameters were not discussed. The basis for this position lay in the fact that all violent crime in the neighborhood was drug related and no assaults on visitors have transpired to date.

Submitted for discussion.

This is as rational a response as you could have hoped for. I'm glad they didn't condescend to you.

Yeah, I was surprised that the whole matter was taken very seriously, and I hardly expected to generate that level on interest.

In this case, the advice from the officer on patrol is to be considered his "personal opinion" - not an official police advisory.

This is a developing matter for this particular area. Trail planners of two differing states refuse to acknowledge that "real cyclists" will want to travel 3 miles though a "ff-iiing waste land to get to the other trail system. What a joke.

Yet, I've already met dozens other cyclists who want to do what I do -but figure "you can't ride there from here."

+1 Very encouraging, thanks for sharing.

www.googlemaps.com > Street View

-Kurt

I ride through some shady areas too, but people look at me like I'm a resident. No one really ****s with you, like they do on big roads. I have more close calls on similar 2 lane "main streets" than through the "hood."

I'm getting my C&C when I'm of age, but yeah.. If someone really wants to do something to you, you're not gonna be conscience given your bike and the wreck following.

As long as they are white and look at least middle class.