o0adam0o

Ive always felt that when i die it will be in a freak accident. Dunno why... im a pretty careful person.. i dont even get on rides at theme parks. Ive been commuting 12mi a day 3 times a week for the past 2months and as im ridding sometimes i think to myself how vulnerable i am on the road. So i make sure to pray everyday and never take risks no matter how fun they appear... lame i know I stop at all ligts and stop signs even if there no cars, cuz i want to get a habit of following traffic laws.

So i would say YES.. im affraid of getting killed while commuting... but if im affraid, then why do i continue to do it?

However, I do hate the fact that i have yet to crash on my bike... i want to get that part over with! Has anyone here not had a single crash? (ie.. ran into something.. fell off.. etc)

zeppinger

I am not scared for myself or my family and loved ones. I am scared for the rest of the world because I am going to become the leader of Earth. I will also cure cancer, discover new dance crazes, solve world hunger, invent a toilet that uses less water, and restore balance to the force. I am afraid that if I die the world will be missing out on good things to come from me. Its your loss not mine.

travelmama

"Who here is afraid of getting killed while commuting?"
This title is plain bad and stupid. If anyone feels fear of being killed doing anything, it should not be done.

chipcom 

if you discover a new dance craze, I'll kill ya!

h. bicycletus

Let's not downplay the value of safety precautions. We really don't know how often that extra bit of visibility to drivers has saved our hides. I do know I've probably not been t-boned a few times because my dorkish looking hi-viz jersey or lights got a dim drivers' attention. I've seen the startled reaction in their faces. . .had i blended into the background, likely could have been a different result. We just don't have stats on the collisions that didn't happen. . .only the ones that did.

AlmostTrick

You could always take up texting while you ride to speed up the process.

cyclokitty 

I've noticed most drivers stay far, far away from cyclists on the road. Sometimes I think the pedestrians are in greater danger because they seem to love stepping off the sidewalk without checking for traffic. Last week a woman walking on the sidewalk several feet ahead of me stepped into the road to jaywalk without even looking right behind her. I yelled at her and startled her enough that she stepped back on the sidewalk. There were 2 cars about to drive past me and any of very nearly could have struck her because she was being stupid.

So, I don't worry about dying on my bike. On foot I best keep my wits about me.

Sirrus Rider

mconlonx

Also, don't be riding under the influence...

Worried enough about it to take precautions, like lights and reflectors for riding after dark; not worried enough about it to stop commuting.

I worry more about dying or getting maimed in a car accident... Or dying of heart disease because I'm not getting exercise by riding--runs in my father's side of the family.

dcuper1

These cyclists were recently killed in my area. Where is the justice? Why is that when a driver kills a cyclist and leaves the crime scene he is not arrested and convicted?

Rest in peace fellow cyclists:

Robert Emmett Bowen III

Unamed woman riding in Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn

Natasha Pettigrew Green Party Candidate

nelson249

Nope, not really. I am mostly able to use an urban MUP and low speed side streets to get to one workplace and a practically deserted MUP to get to the other. I did, however, get dive-bombed by a hawk the other day and last week nearly got jumped by a doe and a pair of fawns.

Quite frankly I get more frightened behind the wheel of the car.

chephy

GOOD! This is the key. Realize that there are certain rules traffic moves by and you won't find those rules in the law books. Once you figure out the patterns, you'll know where danger is likely to come from and consequently how to avoid it.

Don't ride in the door zone of death, bike lane or no bike lane. Ride further left or pick a different route.

You need to change the way you deal with this. Don't look behind you "once you approach the double-parked car". Start checking behind you well in advance, so that you can either spot a gap to change lanes or start signaling left well before you get to the double-parked car, so that you can change lanes before you get to the obstruction without slowing down. Don't be afraid to move away from the curb a little earlier to avoid the obstruction - you don't need to swerve around it just before you get to it.

If you know there is always a long line of cars at a certain intersection all making a right turn, leave the bike lane early so you can pass them on the left (shoulder-checking is mandatory for such a manoeuvre of course, signalling is optional depending on the circumstances).

Don't ride in the door zone. DON'T RIDE IN THE DOOR ZONE!!! If I did, I would be scared too - this is one kind of situation in which you can do very little to mitigate the danger. It doesn't happen to me often, but occasionally I do get the door popped right as I am passing by a parked car, and from the startled look of the driver I just KNOW he hasn't checked his mirrors and the only thing that saved me was that I stayed out of the "death strip". So just don't do it. (Okay, I admit I do it sometimes when filtering through traffic, but I am REALLY careful and I do realize that I am taking chances. If you don't want to take chances, don't do it).

It should get better as you get more familiar with your route as well as cycling strategies in general. I must say I felt a little intimidated the first season I commuted in Toronto. Now I am no more scared of riding to work than of walking to the grocery store. (No doubt, pedestrians often get killed in NYC too... does that make you scared to walk?)

chephy

While a certain collision may not legally and technically be a cyclist's fault, there may have been a way for a cyclist to prevent it. To take my favourite example, a cyclist rides in the door zone, someone pops the door open, result = dead cyclist. Driver's fault 100%, cyclists's fault 0%. Yet it's something a cyclist could have avoided by simply not riding on the most dangerous 3'-wide stretch on the whole road. Or: a car is sitting in the opposite-direction left turn lane, a cyclist rides straight through intersection just a bit behind the rest of the traffic, gets run over by the impatient left-turner. Again, driver's fault 100%, but a cyclist who knows that this is a dangerous set-up would be on alert for it and would've avoided it.

seenoweevil

+1.

I don't worry about dying. Then it's game over and it won't matter to me. We can't always go out like John Entwistle (my hero!)- a heart attack in a Vegas hotel room with a hooker and a big sack of cocaine! Like Drew Carey said - "Why make the money if you don't enjoy spending it?"

genec

Of course this "learning process" can kill you along the way...

electrik

Maybe you're doing it wrong if death is constantly your worry? I hear a lot of knocking on wood...

wunderkind

Dude, you can die in so many ways. If it's your time, then no matter how you want to escape it, this fella will get you.



Death is a certainty. Does Jesus know you?

GriddleCakes

Yeah, he knows me. The moron damn near sideswiped me last summer with his trailer, and then cut me off so that he could park in one of the few bike lanes in town. Man oh man, did I give that pendejo a piece of my mind. Those landscaping guys, I tell you...

vautrain

That's my big fear is getting rear ended, even in broad daylight, by some idiot in a Hummer or Escalade (or even a Hyundai) not paying attention. It's worse now because I've found the best route for my commute takes me on a street with no bike lane, and I feel most comfortable taking up an entire lane, so I sometimes get angry drivers behind me honking at me. The alternative is to have them pass three inches away from me.

electrik

The fear of being hit from behind is natural, but in an urban environment like chicago you should worry more about what is going on in front... left cross, right hook, private driveways.. in a city those accidents are most common.

phillyskyline

In the past two weeks, I've been doored and hit by a car--both while riding legally (and responsibly) in a bike lane. I am fine, thankfully, but things could have turned out differently.

Am I scared? Yes, absolutely. But the alternative is driving or taking public transit, which is much slower than biking...that's enough to keep me on my bike.

rex_kramer

Being killed? Nah, not really. I only fear suffering a lot before being killed.

Seriously though. When I think about how many distractions a driver can potentially tax themselves with while driving, the odds are against me, and that's honestly a little scary. God forbid I die at the hands of someone doing something completely ********, like texting or changing a CD.

JPprivate

mtnwalker

Look at the bright side. Getting killed is a sure fire way of getting rid of your pains, aches and soreness.

MVclyde

I'm not overly concerned about it. I'm confident that I ride responsibly (even though I do make some dumb decisions from time to time). I'm also confident that most drivers are responsible as well. I tend not to dwell on the random thing that can happen out there. I try to be predictable and visible. Like many of the posts above, I'm more concerned about a crash where I'm seriously injured (or even slightly injured, for that matter).

On the other hand, my wife is freaky about my riding.....especially after dark. Probably because we don't have much life insurance. Thank goodness I'm worth more alive than dead!!