The Safety of Commuting....
 

The other day my friend grilled me on the hazards of commuting. He ended his arguments with a link to this tragedy http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20802.aspx

He's told me that i'm risking my life for no logical reason at all, and that it is only a matter of time before some crazy driver swerves for one reason or another and hits me. That drivers can't be trusted, that they are crazy and my odds of surviving an accident in tact are very slim. Ride on a trail on a pathway, but on the major arterial roads he said i'm crazy for doing so. He ended that if he was ever in an accident, and it meant him surviving or killing a cyclist, he'd do whatever it takes to survive.

I didn't really know how to respond to that. I simply told him that i'm lit up like a Christmas tree, I have a mirror and try to be aware of my surroundings and be predictable.

He went on to say that I am assuming drivers will see me..but all it takes is an 80 year old man who can't see very well to miscalculate how much space is needed and to sideswipe you and bam, ur dead or injured.


How do you guys respond to comments like these? The reality is, he now has me thinking and doubting more than ever.

LOL!!!!

Do you know how many more motorist on motorist collisions/fatalities show up on the news all the time??? If you're a driver you're screwed. If you're a pedestrian you're screwed. If you fly you're screwed. If you're hanging out in your house you're screwed.

My mom constantly worries that i'll be ***** and killed simply by walking down my street after 6pm.

Accidents and bad stuff happens. If you're safe and in public, don't worry about it too much.

i don't mean to LOL... but i just think your friend is being a jerk for being so doom and gloom. Mention how many times drunk drivers plow down innocent victims walking on a sidewalk and maybe that'll get him to shut up or something.

I've found that most people are trying to talk me out of bike commuting because it makes them feel better about the fact that they're not riding too.

Just don't spend your time on the interstate, and you should be good.

There's something to be said for visibility and route selection, and it sounds like you're doing those things sensibly.

It makes me think of people who are terrified of flying and yet will happily drive their car on the highway. We all know how those figures statistically stack up. Plane crashes are just more "spectacular".

Exactly. Despite what is commonly believed, cars are dangerous, especially when in the wrong hands. Dangerous to people on bikes, pedestrians, and other cars.

A driver bending over to pick up a dropped cell phone/doughnut could swerve and hit a cyclist, but they could also run a red light and hit another car or a pedestrian.

It's not like riding a bike is inherently unsafe while driving a car is perfectly safe.

just think of how many unsafe vehicles were pulled over by the OPP on this good friday+weekend.
Doesn't matter where you are, when you run out of luck your best bet is wits, reaction and effort.

The problem with CP24 is that it just says "Wooo, big accident!" but doesn't bother following up on a lot of their articles. They're not bad, but honestly some of it is like a tabloid giving you "shock and awe" of the incident, but there's not much effort into the journalism part.
The funny thing is, it's my home page, I use it for weather. :p

Now go to that page, scroll down the safety section and see just how many "bike accidents" are listed compared to "car accidents". Here, I found some car accidents.
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20418.aspx
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_20183.aspx
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19781.aspx
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19705.aspx

1. If I ride my bike into a tree or flip it over, it's not going to burst into flames.

2. Paramedics will never need to use the Jaws of Life to free me from the twisted wreckage of my bike.

3. If I ride my bike into the Sacramento River, I can't get trapped inside it.

4. After a long, tiring day, it's very unlikely that I would fall asleep on my bike.

5. In case I ever did fall asleep riding my bike, the resulting crash would be minor because I probably would be going very slow.

6. Riding my bike to work, it would be very odd to be involved in a freeway pile-up.

7. In order for my bike to enter a hydroplane skid, I would have to reach a speed of at least 104 mph.

8. If I'm fixing a flat tire and my bike happens to fall on me, the resulting injuries (if any) would be entirely minor.

9. On a bicycle, it's impossible to mistake the accelerator for the brake and zoom out of control. In fact, zooming out of control is really cycling Nirvana and what all of us strive for and never attain.

10. Going over the bars will not result in injuries as severe as those incurred if I were to put my head through the windshield.

11. I was trapped under my bike once. I lifted it off of me and got up.

12. When I approach my bike to unlock it, I don't have to worry about someone hiding in the backseat, waiting to attack me.

I'd first tell him to stop being so damned critical of you because being critical of someone else is too easy. Tell him to be critical of himself- he's not perfect so there's something to be critical of.

Anyhow, what I've found is that people who drive and don't ride are very cynical and pessimistic about the abilities and practiced responsibility of other motorists. Remember that these very people are overly sheltered, though; their mode of transportation has been that of their cages and they've become conditioned to feel naked outside of them. To put it another way.. if you wore a shield of armor every time you stepped outside you front door and derived a sense of security of having it on, you'd feel insecure at the thought of not having it. IOW these people are insecure. Moreover, most if not all of these people haven't even tried road cycling. They don't know how motorists react to you when you're on a bike or what it's like to ride in traffic. You could tell your friend this but in his self-righteousness I doubt he'd actually consider any of it.

I fortunately don't have to endure comments like these but if I had to hear them, I'd tell first tell the other person to mind their own damn business and to stop being so lecturesome. If he persisted, I'd tell him something like what I said above.

Regarding your doubt, I don't think it's a bad thing if it forces you to ride more cautiously than before. I have developed the habit of catching myself when I become too comfortable, telling myself to be a little nervous and more alert. Regarding the risk we take, yes, it's real and any of us could be killed in an instant. All we can do is to minimize the risk, through our own behavior, and then to accept it. Or stop riding. Take your pick- doing what you love and living how you choose or not taking the risk and having a higher degree of safety. Can't have both, really.

As you already know, your odds of being killed or hurt bad in a bike wreck go down substantially when you ride properly. Ask your friend how many people he knows that were killed or injured while in a car. Maybe he should be convincing motorists that they are taking crazy risks.

Living has risks, and the end result for everyone of us will be the same, sooner or later. You do what you can to minimize those risks and still enjoy life the way you choose to enjoy it.

Tell him to p___ in somebody else's Cheerios and then go have a nice ride.

I've totalled 3 cars and 0 bikes. That means.... oh crap, can't divide by zero. :mad:

Ignore the comment he made, it's misguided at best. A lot of non-cyclist in Vancouver thinks cycling is dangerous. Part of the reason is because the two major local newspapers are owned by Bell Globemedia and is pro-car. The stupidity and nearsightedness of any drivers commenting cycling is dangerous should look at themselves first.

I've been cycling for 8 years. Based on studies done, cycling has lower per kilometer in fatalities than driving. The link you have given doesn't tell anyone how the rider was hit or whose fault it was. Riding safely and cautiously is the best asset you can have as a cyclist, even more so than wearing a helmet.

He's right, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't ride your bike. I've been hit twice.

+1 Couldn't have said it any better. I try to ride with both confidence and fear; each in their proper proportions (not unlike any number of other human activities).

you run the risk of getting hit by a horrible or drunk driver just walking down the street on the sidewalk.

that doesn't mean we should never go out for a walk.

http://moronland.net/media/pictures/pic1784.jpg

I worked a lot of trauma in SoCal and he is right. I worry about it every day I ride.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't ride because, the probablity is a heart attack will kill you eventually.
Still, I am amazed how many lectures I get regarding diving, things way less dangerous.
So....maybe I'll ride with just one ear bud in.

I really hate it when friends do that, because I always take it as "a sign from God" lol.
I don't mind death, I just really don't want to be a vegetable.

I ride with my man who is like messenger boy, thats how I know I am going to get hit. (I am not good enough to ride that way) People yelling "stupid" out of their cars is what tipped me off.

Oh? ...and when people send you links about that stuff, NEVER open them.

Just like many have written about the volume of car accidents or drunk drivers...I think the point he was trying to make was that a car swerving or one of these car accidents could have involved a bike.

That being said, I think all this will do, is to force me to drive more defensively.

A biker at home is safe.......but that is not what bikers are for.

I just want to see the math on that. Looks like I have a new goal for this year.

Everybody has to die at some time.

If you're out enjoying a nice ride on your bike and you get killed, well, there would be a lot worse ways you could go.

Ask your friend how he would like to die.

A lot of people would answer this question by saying that they would like to die in their sleep. To that I would respond, don't you worry every night when you go off to bed? :-)

I think your friend is, at best, misguided. Tens of thousands of drivers die in their cars every year. The statistics I've seen suggest you're no more likely to be involved in a fatal accident on your bike than your friend is in their car. The distances and speeds most car driver travel at puts them at greater risk. Even the scenario of getting side-swiped on an arterial road is unlikely to be fatal. I've had close calls, but the difference in speed was minor and I generally just rap my knuckles on their fender to get their attention (try doing that from your car).

In my opinion, the bigger issue here is the #1 killer in the U.S. - heart disease. Does your friend exercise regularly. Do they realize that, by commuting by bike on a regular basis, you are drastically reducing your risk of heart disease? The long-term benefits of cycling far outweigh any increased short-term risks. Of course, there's also the environmental considerations but it sounds like your friend is incapable of any sort of self-sacrifice for the greater good.

Traveling is unsafe. This is why standard emergency advice is to STAY PUT. Do not evacuate unless you are in immediate danger of death. In a real emergency, more people will die in an evacuation attempt than from the actual emergency.

When you're not in a state of emergency or natural disaster area, travel is still unsafe. But you have less opportunity to do things like call off work on account of "I might get hit by a car on my way to work". And the unsafe is relative. Very few people are involved in a fatal accident at home, to the point where it's not worth worrying about. Accidents on the road are much more common (so chances are you know someone who was in a serious accident), but fatalities are still unusual. Betting that you're today's fatality is the wrong way to bet.

I could fall down the stairs outside my front door. I could suffer a heart attack at my gym. A simple slip on a concrete floor could be fatal if I'm unlucky. I quit smoking almost two years ago but the last thirty years as a smoker could still catch me out.

Living from day to day takes faith. Some activities just demand you take a more active role in that faith, as opposed to the more passive variety to which most people surrender when bundled and buttoned up in their automobiles. Complacency, although it takes less effort, is rarely "safer".

When I listen to the traffic reports in the morning, I have to shake my head. It seems like every day at least one expressway is fouled up because of a wreck. Would you go on an amusement park ride if the safety record included multiple injuries every week? How about if that ride was practically guaranteed to kill one or more of its riders every month? Yet people drive on expressways without a second thought.

Me, I do think twice, then drive on the expressway anyways. I can't be paralyzed by fear. If I can acknowledge the risks, I can take steps to minimize them. The same applies to bike riding.

I suppose it is too easy to ignore the dangers of automobile travel because it feels safe, as much as it is too easy to overestimate the dangers of bicycle travel.

[edit] After re-reading, this post seems more pessimistic that I really am. What I'm getting at is, bikes ain't so bad compared to cars! Have fun.