Jay was killed biking home from work more than a week ago in Tempe. Investigators said he was hit by a car as he rode through a crosswalk at McClintock and Alameda drives.
“He sold his second car with the idea that he would take up biking and ride to work which is probably 10 to 12 miles away,” said Jay’s father, John Fretz. “He knew that was a dangerous thing to do.”

I would want to know more about the incident. Learn from it, and if I had anything in common with this tragedy, see if I could make changes. I would not call riding a bike dangerous, any more than I would call the rest of life's activities, including being sedentary, dangerous. I am also having trouble understanding what "rode through a cross walk" means. If it means that he was riding on the sidewalk and using the crosswalks to go through intersections, it has long been an A&S tennet that riding in pedestrian areas is more dangerous than riding in traffic. I also have a family, but refuse to stop living because it might kill me. I did mitigate my guilt and fears with a mondo life insurance policy.

If I was deciding on whether I should stop commuting by bike, the one thing I've learned is not to post about here on BF.

Is it really safer - do you get what i'm saying? Odds are odds. People are still winning the lottery, but they're more ten times more likely to get hit by lightning.

There's no doubt people are emotional creatures and ruled more often by what they feel as opposed to what they know.

You'll eventually decide what's best for you rando, but don't let this get you down too much. Life is full of tragedy and we all have to go sometime.

For the most part, the going is rarely as good as we would wish it to be. What's important is what we do when we have life, not they way in which we go.

Dammit, Chip, coddle me! preferably while wearing that blond wig of yours....

+1 This.

I would love to get full reports of all the "bicycle related" accidents around here, and analyze why they really happened. The one time i saw some figures on that sort of thing, a pretty high % was dummies riding with no lights, against traffic, sailing through intersections against the lights, drunk, things like that.

Not saying if you don't do that you're safe, we're none of us getting out of this alive, life is dangerous.

And as for playing the odds, what was that report that said the increase in life expectancy more than made up for the increased risk of cycle commuting?

To the OP, if you feel bad about it, or you can't take the risk, it's your life, not ours. Do what you gotta do.

There's only one gauranntee in life and that is death. You only live one life and you must choose how you would like to live it wisely. Just follow your Heart's Desire and you will not regret it.

My personally feeling is that I rather die behind my handlebar than behind an airbag.

Agreed on every point. I live in Scottsdale and commute full time to work by bike, so I know this story.

But I say this respectfully, there are fatal car crashes every day here, and I wonder if you were equally affected like this back when you were driving?

Scott G.

My "reply" to a friend in person would be no different.

Scott

Get an Aflac level 2 accident indemnity policy. It will pay you for injuries you get from any accident (even if it's rolling over and falling out of bed) and has life insurance built in.

Full disclosure: I work for them.

In my own case, it comes down to this:

A. Keep riding, take a small risk of losing your whole life.
B. Quit riding, and remove part of your life now. It may or may not save the rest.

I keep coming back to A, but admit I don't have a wife or kids.

That's a sad one, what happened to your neighbor. But for me, not one type of commuting is better than the other. Accidents happen all the time whether you are careful or not. What is really best (for me) is to get yourself an insurance. And of course, more care. If you think that putting your commuting to a stop is a better option for now, listen to your gut. Try to assess the situation before taking another step.

Good luck.

One of the things that comes with growing older is being able to look back and say to yourself, "I can't believe I really did that; what was I thinking?" Hopefully we can look back at those experiences with a smile. You can't go through life thinking about what could/might have happen(ed). Another way of putting it is to make the decision and work at making it the right decision.

This is a world of infinite possibilities and moments. Enjoy them!

Many years ago, I rode motorcycles. I, and several others I worked with, commuted on them and did lunch-time rides occasionally. One day, I was heading back to work after lunch and came upon and accident scene. Semi turned left in front of a motorcycle. I recognized the bike right away. Mike had just gotten a new custom paint job and there was no mistaking it. I stopped and talked to one of the cops on scene and was told he wasn't going to make it. I was tasked with picking his wife up from her work and driving her to the hospital hoping to get her there before he passed away. He left behind not only a wife but two young daughters. I sold my motorcycle a few months later. Not due to fear but it just wasn't fun any more. You've got to do what feels right to you regardless of what the "sensible" thing is.

Five and a half years ago a car made a left into my lane as I was coming down a hill at about 28 mph. It stopped mid-turn and I went over the hood, wrecking my bike, scraping my chin, shoulder, and knee on one side, and breaking my wrist on the other. I started trail riding again the next spring, but I avoided roads because cars made me skittish. Eventually, I started commuting again, but took a different route to keep away from cars as much as possible. Those routes were fairly boring rides and I stopped commuting by bike.

Last year I decided to try the old route one more time. When I approached the intersection where I was hit, I slowed and crossed through it at about 20 mph. As I approached the traffic light at the next block, I exhaled and realized that I hadn't breathed for about a block. After a year of occasional commuting on that route, I still slow down at that intersection and am more distrustful of cars there than elsewhere. It may not be rational (the drivers don't know my history there), but it's what I do and I'm OK with that.

Take a break if you want to. If you resume riding, consider less worrisome routes. If you go back to your current route, make whatever adjustments in riding speed and style that you want to feel better. Riding is supposed to be fun. If you aren't enjoying commuting because of worry, don't commute -- there are other ways to enjoy your bike. Good luck.

Here it comes...blaming a dead victim isn't too low for BF...On a thread started by the neighbor of the victim...Wow.

My work covers $10,000 of life insurance for each employee, and offers other insurance for people who are willing to pay for it. I looked into additional life insurance, but it was confusing and too expensive for me (as someone who doesn't have kids or own a house), so I went with an accidental death & dismemberment policy for $250,000 that costs like $2.20 a month.

If you have an account at a credit union, they usually insure members for some small amount, for free, and you can increase it if you want to.

Whether you quit riding/commuting or not, get insurance! If you quit commuting and then get mauled by a bear, and you still don't have life or AD&D insurance, it will be a waste in every way imaginable.

My aunt and uncle's house burned down, and 10 days later my uncle died in a car accident. His family was able to get a new house and feed themselves because they had insurance. I don't know what they would have done, otherwise.

It is not a question of blame, but rather to figure out what factors that contributed to the tragedy which might apply to the OP. Perhaps there are factors that would not apply to the OP, which could mitigate his decision to alter his activities. Learning, not blaming, is what I suggest.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

You should stop riding the bike to work. Wait, what if you take the car? You could get in a bad crash and die. Maybe take the private jet. Oh wait, these things might crash too.

Best to work from home. But what if you get a gas leak resulting in an explosion in your home, or if the house catches fire due to an electrical failure somewhere in the house...

Seriously, I think nothing should stop anyone from commuting. When your numbers run out, they run out.

I think this is a more rational reason to stay commuting than the BF Vampire Forensic Team's attempt to figure out how to rationalize why they would never make the mistake that the latest flattened cyclist did.

I have no clue what you just said =)

I think he is trying to say that we all have swelled heads and are too smug to learn from others mistakes. Possibly true. I have learned a few things on here that I hadn't considered before. I've learned a few more from coming too darn close to getting myself flattened as well. I know which way of learning things that I prefer.

Unfortunately, the cold dispassion of considering what others did wrong is nowhere near as good a teacher as a good hard shot of adrenalin.

Forensics? LOL. Last sidewalk rider to buy the farm in my area got attacked by a red wing black bird while riding with his kids. It spooked him so bad, he fell off his bike and hit his head. Last road rider was riding on a narrow road against traffic where no sidewalk was available when he was struck head on. The town built a sidewalk where he got hit, so it wouldn't happen again. Sooo, sidewalks will either kill you or save your life??? Nah. You can hit your head doing anything and die, and riding against traffic is probably stupid. Both incidents got my attention, neither kept me off the bike. I am no less vulnerable than before, no more either. But the guy that got doored and then run over, well, I must confess that I do leave a bit more room when passing parked cars than I used to.

Depends on what you're talking about. Most of the research confirms what is intuitively correct - in car-bike collisions, the cyclist is in big trouble. But slower and more maneuverable bikes are less likely to be in a collision in the first place, and in bike-stationary object, bike-bike and bike-pedestrian collisions are quite safe.