https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/mar...,7004676.story

I just noticed this story in the Baltimore Sun. From what I can glean, it would seem we have lost yet another cyclist to an irresponsible driver. But what is almost as sad, is the attitude displayed by many in the comments section. It would seem that many people in my area believe that bikes are toys, and that anyone who rides in the streets, deserves whatever happens to them.

Wow. Very sad. It looks like the first poster was totally ready to blame the cyclist for sure.

It isn't just drivers that feel that way, I took a refresher bike repair class earlier this year. One of the women in the class commented that she wouldn't "dare ride on the road." My mind went "huh?, where do you plan to ride your bike?"
I have always ridden on the road, since I was a kid.

You will even find that attitude in these forums.

sad story. The comments section on newspaper web sites are populated by the lowest form of human. You will find nasty comments attached to almost any story. Our local paper makes you sign up with your real name before you can post and this has improved things to some extent. However, most papers don't do that.

That is very sad, could be me, a 40ish dad with two kids.

Sucks for the family, losing a father that young. Life can be a real B.

Don't let this scare you off the roads, though. It's not like you're any safer driving your car.

Where I grew up, the road was the only place you could ride. When I moved to the city as an adult, I started riding on the sidewalk partially because I was so enamored with its very existence. Only after I had a couple of sidewalk/driveway interactions did I get back in the road. Nowhere is truly safe (never leave your house? you'll probably die of obesity related illness), but the road is the safest place I've found to ride, relative to the alternatives.

+1

Baltimore needs more bicycles on the road not less, but those who are on the road must be confident in their abilities to negotiate whatever the road throws their way.

Started riding in the street when I was about 12 or 13; went quickly from the old Stingray to a 3-speed Huffy cruiser (then a Schwinn 10-speed a couple years later), and felt perfectly OK with cars. Of course, this was at the 'birth' of the 70's bike boom....

Split between roads, trails, and sidewalks today; ride a MTB for everything now, and there are some sidewalks in town here that are a JOY to ride with fat tires and suspension!

I try not to read these comments areas anymore. Just gets my blood pressure up and spoils an otherwise good day.

No matter who is right or wrong. In a collision, the bicycle rider will always lose. Sometimes I wonder should I even ride considering that I have 2 cars that I can use to commute. Basically cyclo-commute is for fun not a necessity.

Best wishes to Larry's kids, as it is tough on them to lose a father, and tough on the rest of us who cycle every day, and constantly monitor the traffic behind us, always wondering if they are paying attention. We light up our bikes like holiday trees, and still we don't really feel safe. This news comes on top of fellow who was killed last Sunday on his bike on the way to work in Barbados, W.I. He was 80 years old. Cycling is bigger than it has been in years, commuting and recreation, and it will continue to grow, hopefully, the car drivers learn to adjust.

With all due respect, there's very little you can do to negotiate around a speeding car from behind. A mirror may give you a half a second, doubtful.

An excerpt from one of my many e-mails on this.

The thought of those young children having their father taken away so suddenly and senselessly makes me shudder. I can't help but think what that would do to my own wife and children. He was just going for a ride, like we all do. This breaks my heart. Rita, if you get a chance, please let this woman know that there are literally hundreds of cyclists that sympathize with her family's grief.

I have written my representatives as have many fellow cyclists. We're urging them to get the three foot law passed as well as a ban on cell phone use while driving. Not sure either of these things would have averted Tuesday's tragedy but it's something.

Remember Bike to Work Day is coming up in May. The more cyclists on the road, the more motorists who know what it's like to be on a bike with traffic, the more aware the driving public will be, the safer we'll all be. Everybody should know about this tragedy, so please keep the message alive.

Here's what I had to say yesterday,

I hate to be pessimistic but I see the problem as bigger than what can be solved by passing the 3 foot law or banning cell phones, though these would certainly help. We live in a culture where car is king, personal liberty is flaunted, aggressive driving and a lack of respect for our fellow citizens is rampant. A total abuse of a very easy form of personal transportation. Until more people are on bikes, until it is seen as a viable form of transportation and not just a few eccentrics riding to work, or people with an expensive hobby, not much will change. The people that give you a wide berth on the road are probably A, cyclists themselves, B, know a cyclist, C, just good safe drivers. You jack the gas up to 7 bucks a gallon and we'll see slower driving, less driving, more people on bikes, mopeds, scooters, foot, a kinder gentler egalitarian public. Pay off the debt with the revenue and have a healthier, less obese, population. The average American walks 400 yards per day, mostly to the car, the bathroom, etc.

There are days when I see human beings as having a chance. Then I read articles like this, and see the comments of selfish, arrogant, self important, callous, ignorant, and heartless human beings and it makes me wonder how we're going to survive.

Truly sad that even with the death of a husband and father who simply wanted to enjoy his life, there is this vitriol from the cagers who find cyclist in their way.

Joe

There is an unwritten code of honor among motorists that you simply do not impede traffic. If you are obeying the law by driving the speed limit, you sort of have an "out," but that means the speed limit is taken as a minimum speed, or a commanded speed. To think for yourself and slow down to allow for safe driving? The cyclist adopts a different view around the idea of "sharing;" one that certainly breaks the code. Some motorists "get it." Many do not.

I'm just a flatlander, so when I get on the twisty, swooping backroads of Missouri in a car, I tend to hold up traffic. There are places there where the speed limit is obviously too high and make no accomodation for anything on the road moving slower than a car's pace. People tailgate me all the time, even though I know there's no way, if they drive as fast as they want to, they have enough sight distance through the turns to avoid hitting anything if it's stopped in the road. These are narrow, twisty, hilly roads with no shoulders, big dropoffs, and surrounded by trees. And no I'm not holding up traffic to make any kind of point. I'm just trying to drive at a safe speed, and the locals stack up behind me.

I can't imagine riding there, but it sure is beautiful country.

And hopefully educated bicyclists. No one needs more salmon on the roads.

I am happy to say that the Maryland legislature just passed a ban a few days back on talking on a cell while driving. The bad news is that the new law only makes it a secondary offense, so the police can't pull you over for it, unless you are violating some other law. Furthermore the added fines are far too small. That said, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Once an unsafe behavior is outlawed, it usually becomes easier to move it from a secondary offense to a primary one.

This story isn't a good example, but I've found often media stories covering cyclist deaths wrongfully reinforce the "riding on the road is dangerous" myth. Most don't contain any information about what contributed to the accident. When I've dug a bit, I often feel like a "blame the cyclist" type because there almost always seem to be poor decisions leading up to the crash. Often, the cyclist wasn't actually on the road (sidewalk riders), rode in the dark without lights (there was one unusually well publicized incident last year where a bike ninja went riding on the freeway, and got smacked moving to the left lane), or rode against traffic.

But because none of the details make it into the mainstream news stories, people don't know what behaviour caused the accident, and therefore just infer that if they risk the "dangers" of biking at all, they should stay off the road.

If you're referring to your own personal situation, that's fine, but if you're referring to commuter cyclists in general, then I strongly disagree, and point out that type of thought is how a number of motorists view commuting by bicycle as.

I think the opposite is true, a car for a short journey is far from a necessity. Why would anyone who is capable of biking a distance take a car, when they have the time to bike? The answer is society has become amazingly lazy. Talk about an impractical mode of transport, you put a few hundred pound human in a several thousand pound vehicle and move them 3 miles using a fossil fuel and a several hundred pound engine, when the same distance could be traveled by bike, or even "gasp" by walking! Yet all these fat lazy slobs are pushing those of us who want to take advantage of a healthier lifestyle off the road while the drive themselves to an early grave.

I tend to think those wasting resources in the thousand pound vehicles for "fun" are the ones using inefficient modes of transport and wasting resources to excess, not me.

Joe

I agree with everything you posted, but wanted to point out in many cases biking is faster and more consistent. In my case, driving to work would be anywhere in 30-90 minute range, depending on other traffic and how difficult it is to find parking space that particular day. Buses are less influenced by traffic (dedicated bus lanes), so taking a bus means 40 minutes, door to door. Finally, biking takes about 45-55 mins, shower and change of clothes included. Just the huge variance in driving time makes it an impractical choice for me.

--J

Sad day when anyone cycling gets killed. Ride carful

Can you quote any source to back up that assertion on, say, a fatalities per mile traveled basis?

EDIT: Through a quick Google search I found a pro-bicycle page that calculated the numbers. Statements made indicate that cyclists constitute 2% of road fatalities but they travel only .2% of the miles, which means that cycling is about 10 times more likely to result in death than other surface travel methods. In another place on the page this value is calculated with statistics from various sources and the answer is that cycling is 3.4 to 11.5 times more dangerous than being in a car.

So... yes you are safer being in a car.

But another study put this figure in terms of fatalities per hour spent (which may be a more meaningful comparison) and found bicycles to be a bit safer.