Hey everyone, What are some of your worries with commuting? For example, having small kids at home and the get sick or something. I know your wife or husband might be at home with them but you always want to be there if somethings wrong. What do you do in a case like that. I've been at work and my son swallowed something, luckily I drove the van and was able to go the the emeregency room with him. What do you do when your on your bike?

I guess it depends on what you mean. If I were at home with my kids and something happened that required them to get to an emergency room and I didn't have a car, I'd call a neighbor, get a taxi, or in the event of a true emergency, call 911.

If I were at work and got a call from my wife to meet her at the emergency room because something happened to one of the kids, I could also catch a taxi, but it's not that far from where I work to ride to the most likely hospital they'd go to. In fact that's actually happened and I rode there in the dead of winter.

I realize that not everybody lives in as close of proximity to home, work, and hospitals, but that's one reason we chose to live where we do.

Get a lift from a co-worker....that's what I did the time I had to rush home.

If it's life threatening, call the ambulance. If it's not, does the extra time really matter (unless we're talking hours)? Driving home to go to the ER sounds like a bad idea no matter what kind of transportation you have.

Edit: Holy cow!! There were no replies when I started my response, but I re-wrote it a few times.

I have had to ask a coworker if I could borrow their car before. I don't let things like this get in the way of the ride as they are pretty infrequent. Ride and have fun, you will always find a way to handle the emergencies.

I believe I could do that or like said above, hitch a ride with a co worker. Just wondering what others would or have done. Not like I hope anything happens with anyone but just curious

I'm four miles from home. A car is slightly faster than a bike when there's little traffic. During rush hour, the bike is faster.

Murphy's Law says you'll only get the call when there's bad traffic.

I can get most of the way home several times faster in my car than on my bike ... right up until I have to cross a bridge. Then, in the car, I might be waiting for a while if there are other cars on the road. The bridge is about 10 mi from my house, and (obviously) doesn't have parking. The fact that a bike is a faster way to and from work at rush hour is most of the reason I'm about to start bike commuting again.

My wife stays at home with the kids (they're young) and the car stays there too since I bike to work. If anything happens, she can handle it. If something really bad happened and I needed to be there, I would leave the bike at work and get a ride home.

Emergency, someone will always help, wouldn't you?

Could almost certainly get someone to give me a ride. Or there is a corporate car that I could take if I really needed to. More importantly I live in a small town and only 4 miles away from home and 4 miles away from the hospital (slightly different direction). A ride wouldn't take that long.

As another way of looking at it... When you're in a huge hurry because of an emergency there may be a weird benefit to being on a bike. In a car all you can do is go as fast as the person in front of you and accelerate quickly just to hit the breaks.. Frustrating and ultimately unproductive. On a bike all that extra adrenaline can actually be put to use by hitting the cranks harder. Plus you're much more maneuverable so you aren't necessarily slowed down by the next vehicle in front of you (especially if you're JoeyBike. )

If my son swallowed something or there were some other such emergency, it would be irresponsible to waste time driving home to take him to the ER - that's what ambulances are for. They could have him in the ER and taken care of before I could get back home from work no matter how fast I drove.

Besides, if a spouse is home with the kid, why would *I* drive him in - she's there and has the car.

Also it depends on where you live. I have a friend who works at a hospital and lives close-by. The ER is 4 minutes away by bicycle, and about 20 minutes by car, due to being able to cut through the woods on the bike, but on the car having to drive several miles around the woods, park in the parking structure then walk several hundred meters to the buildings.

My two fastest rides home were because of situations like these. They weren't really bad emergencies I guess, but the kind where my wife says "Come home NOW." In one case, the ambulance had already come and gone and I just had to be home to watch the kids so my wife could go to the hospital and make sure everything was alright with our renter. If it were my own wife or child in the hospital, I don't know how much of a difference it would make how fast I got there, but there are plenty of options -- taxi comes to mind.

What if you worked farther away?

I've interviewed at companies that were 30 minutes to an hour away by car. I've had the good fortune to find employment within 6 miles of my house. By car it is 15 minutes, desk to door. By bike, it is 45 minutes if I change clothes (which is most of the time), or it could be closer to 30 minutes if I just jump on the bike. Any time my Wife gets a little frustrated by my reduced spontaneity (because I biked to work), I just remind her of where I could be working.

In a real "emergency?" Plenty of options, as already mentioned. Friends, taxi, etc.