Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
Joey, we need Universal Health Care or at the very least, Medicare For All; We need a $15/hr. minimum wage; We need Federally Mandated Rent Control and we probablly need a Basic Income subsistence program too. These are vital programs that would help all Americans live somewhat at a Middle Class Standard. Your list benefits only cyclists. Somewhat less than 12% of Americans are cyclists. Half of that might use their bikes everyday to commute. The rest, the tires of their bikes will never touch asphalt in anger. Explain to me like you would to a small child how we get our governments to build out that network of protected bike lanes, to cite only one item on your list. Senators and Representatives from time to time have floated bills banning bicycles from public roads for their own safety. None have made it past the Draft Resolution stage. If cyclists keep acting like spoiled, whiny, snowflakes there will come a backlash.
Sorry, the message hidden in my post with the mythical characters was perhaps not clear. This is what I meant there. (BTW...I agree with many social program ideas)
My point was that "total" cycling safety is as real as unicorns and little Irish gnomes. And "better" safety is a long way off. Individual cyclists need to TAKE ACTION themselves TODAY given the facts on the ground and the situations they ride under. The world is a difficult place to change but WE can change ourselves and react to the situations in a moment. Don't sit around missing the point dreaming of some cycling utopia that may never come. It's a pot of gold under a rainbow with a unicorn peeing on it and Bigfoot doing an Irish jig next to it.
As I have said here about a million times, and it applies so well to the poor dude who got killed. He was, according to my readings, a highly experienced cyclist. To me, it looked like he was doing nothing wrong AT THAT MOMENT when he got killed - as far as the RULES of the road go. The "Rules of the Road" for cyclists do not cover anything outside of traffic laws in general. Here are the RULES that never get mentioned in handbooks:
1. LIMIT your exposure:
Our fellow cyclist in the obituary here here did exactly the opposite. He spent as much time as possible in the meat grinder according to the linked story. No matter how safe, lucky, and thoughtful any cyclist could be, maximizing exposure to danger is never a good thing. You may live a long, happy life, but you are tilting the odds against yourself.
2. Be mindful of MOTORIST HAZARDS:
The newly deceased, someone posted here, likely was riding into a rising sun along with the motorist who got him. How many deaths just reported here on A&S are likely related to motorists' vision hampered by looking directly into the rising or setting sun? Granted, if you MUST get to work on THAT road, then you just gotta do what you gotta do. But as a recreational cyclist you should give careful thought to the added danger of a low sun. Hell, I do this on car road trips. I don't want to be lined up with a bunch of A-holes on the Interstate doing 80mph around a bunch of blinded motorists. If I must travel into a setting sun in a car, I take low speed alternate routes when possible. Same with my bike. Or grab a bite to eat until the sun sets completely. This is called THINKING about SAFETY. It is not in the rule book.
"Death" roads should be avoided at peak motorist times. Yes, we all know roads that are white knuckle events at the best times. Don't ride them at rush hour or any time every motorist around you will have to react to you. This means that e.v.e.r.y. s.i.n.g.l.e. ONE OF THEM must SEE you. Sooner or later......
How many cyclists just blast off without any thought of these things.
3. TIME of day:
Motorist activity has a rhythm to it. Weekday rush hours between getting kids to school and others to work, most cities are mayhem between 7:30-9:00a.m. So don't schedule your pleasure ride at that time if those roads are affected. Locally to me some huge facilities, plants etc let out at 3pm. I would NEVER bike the highway leading away from those places at 3:15. Even if I survived it just wouldn't be fun and I would at the very least have soda cans hurled at me and rightly so. Only an idiot would do this and a few motorists would be happy to communicate that to me in various ways including PURPOSEFUL acts of close passes and tossed objects. Not endorsing this, but I wouldn't blame them.
Where I live evening traffic starts about 3:00p.m. when school lets out and builds all the way to nearly 6:00p.m. Yeah, I have to get home from work at this time but I choose my route VERY CAREFULLY. I even take a few one-way streets (contraflow - oh the horror) for a block or two to make certain that traffic heading out of the city isn't following me. This is also called THINKING. It is not in any rule book. Going contraflow on a quiet backstreet during rush hour allows me to enjoy ZERO motorists. Taking alternate routes brings us back to my first point: LIMIT YOUR EXPOSURE.
4. OBEYING every traffic law:
Perhaps the most dangerous tactic of all is blindly obeying ANY rules. I am not going into every detail as the info would fill a small book of "anti-rules" but I will share one of them.
In certain areas and on certain roadways (not all of them) it is safer to selectively and thoughtfully run red lights (where I live and commute). If I wait for every green light during rush hour I will have to interact and likely be overtaken by a couple hundred cars over my 5 mile commute. If I thoughtfully run the red lights I will be cycling in the GAPS created by those red lights behind me. Using this tactic I can often cover the same 5 mile distance without being overtaken by even ONE CAR. Not one! This also brings us back to my first point LIMIT YOUR EXPOSURE!
In conclusion, "limit your exposure" does not necessarily mean "don't ride your bike", it means ride smart and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get there in one piece. Do not blindly follow rules written by people who don't ride bikes. I have little respect for people who don't, or can't think for themselves and act in their best interests.