bikebikebike

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/o...structure.html
in Opinion by Farhad Manjoo
Riding a Bike in America Should Not Be This Dangerous April 21, 2022

Good review of issue and stats . May be behind a porous paywall.

indyfabz

$1/week

Polaris OBark

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/o...structure.html

On MacOS:
1. Right-click (control-click) URL and download to desktop.
2. Highlight file by single-clicking on it.
3. Hit space-bar to activate quick preview.

On Windows:
1. Right-click (control-click) URL and download to desktop.
2. Disconnect from internet.
3. Open in InternetExploder.

genejockey 

Boils down to the roads are becoming more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists because of choices we as a nation are making, and other choices are possible.

coffeesnob

what choices ?

genejockey 

Mostly, prioritizing motor vehicle traffic flow higher than the safety of pedestrians and cyclists when designing streets and roads. Also, things like buying more SUVs than cars.

genejockey 

Not mentioned in the article, but have you noticed how much taller, squarer, and (for want of a better term) more brutal-looking the front ends of pickup trucks have become? This makes it ever harder for drivers to see what's immediately in front of them. The car companies know this, but they're responding to what sells, so in the end it's the consumers driving it.

msalvetti

Kid was run over by a dump truck making a legal right on red in a busy intersection. Kid was in the truck's blind spot, and just happened to have fallen off his bike as the truck turned.

The article argues that we continue to design roads and intersections for the speedy and efficient movement of traffic even though that can make them more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists (pedestrian deaths are also up). Could have had protected bike lane, a stop line further back from the intersection for traffic so cyclists are more visible in front, maybe not allowing rights on red.

Here in Boston there are intersections where you can be crossing the street, the sign says "Walk", but cars on the cross-street are allowed to make a left turn onto the street you are crossing. If you are not a local and aware, you would think it was completely safe to cross. After all, the sign says Walk. It's not. There can be a car coming from behind you and turning into your crosswalk. There is one of these right by my office.

Mark

indyfabz

https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-safety/

grizzly59

Around here there are so many people looking a their phones while driving that the cops must have given up ticketing anyone for doing it. There was a law passed against it with the Gov giving a speech, etc., promptly forgotten about. Cops have a laptop mounted in the front seat and I often see them looking at that and driving.

icemilkcoffee 

4. When you open the page, Hit stop-loading as soon as the text appears.
5. If you normally use say Chrome browser, and the Chrome browser has run out of free articles, you can switch to your IE or Edge or whatever browser

Sy Reene

Or.. one of you print the article to a PDF and attach for everyone else. It's editorial content right?

Polaris OBark

I think it would be a violation of copyright law as well as terms of service/luser agreement.

BTW I was wrong about the need to disconnect the internet in order to read a downloaded html file in your browser.

Koyote

Or you could just pay the dollar.

mschwett 

but why carry a tube when you can just mooch one? 😂😂

bikebikebike

Thought it was a good review.
Nuisance as to the paywall papers are putting up. Often a few articles a month are free.
PM me if you need a copy and are having trouble getting it.
The truck/SUV issue with style related injuries (as trucks will not dissipate a hit by tossing the victim) is as bad as bullhorns or other obstacles on the front and is well known.
Pedestrian injuries and deaths are up ,too.
We are designing in hazards and they hurt people.
No surprises just a good assembly of the data.

Admins can move this if they like.

PGHNeil

Paywall notwithstanding I choose not to ride alone on city streets or rural roads alike. When I do, I know that I need something that is nimble and not prone to pinch flats. That's why I ride a hardtail. It's not fast on roads and it's heavy but it gets me to point B from point A and allows me to take a detour if necessary.

Racing Dan

Sure, but also legislation permitting vehicles that doesn't take hitting pedestrians and cyclists in to consideration. A notable example is the Tesla Cybetruck, that likely will be banned in the EU, as it should be, Imo.

A350driver

Safety is the bike rider’s responsibility as much as the automobile driver. I won’t ride where I know it’s going to be busy with car/bus/truck traffic, or at the busiest time of day. I get up at 5am and get it done before rush hour, or go out to the woods. If I lived in a city I wouldn’t ride at all!

Sy Reene

So, I'm having difficulty in correlating the numbers referenced in the article.
That is:

• 2.9 cyclist deaths per million (per million what? is this a ratio against the number of cyclists or against the entire US population?)
• 2.0 pedestrian deaths per million (same question)
• 39,000 dead in motor vehicle crashes
  • 20% of these? are non-occupants

What I think is oft wondered on these types of statistics -- how has the fatality rate for cycling-mile-ridden changed? Of course likely impossible to know. One stat, just in NYC alone on just the Citi Bike platform, during the decent-weather months there are about 3.2 million rides taken per month and 6.5 million miles travelled. These are about triple the values that they were 5 years previously.

wolfchild

Majority of accidents between vehicles and cyclists happen because the driver or the cyclist or both are distracted and not paying attention or maybe they are trying to engage in some sort of aggressive behavior and road battle scenario to prove who has more rights to be on the road....It has absolutely nothing to do with vehicle design. I personally drive a full size pick up and never ever had a problem not being able to see a pedestrian or cyclist...It's all about awareness, and responsibility and has nothing to do with what type of a vehicle a person drives.

tkamd73 

Yeah, it’s only a buck, but doubt very much I’d learn anything I don’t know anyway, on that subject. Not really interested in the Times either.
Tim

LarrySellerz

Can’t read the article (paywall) but I hate electric cars, they sneak up on you. Way more likely to get hit by a Tesla than an f-150 or whatever that truck is called. Don’t even get me started of self driving cars, they are being tested at my works campus and ehh are dreadful.

I hope Uncle Sam decides to take climate change seriously, and subsidize people buying bicycles and ebikes instead of selling their car for another car. Clown world.

Daniel4

Statistics stating deaths per million miles are meaningless. A cyclist or pedestrian on a 10 mile park trail is much safer than one on a busy suburban arterial road. Cyclists and pedestrians don't usually die on their own while riding or walking but motorists do when they go speeding on an empty street on a Friday or Saturday night. Cyclists and pedestrians die when cars hit them. How dangerous a road is is determined by a combination of the number of cars and their speed.

Remove pedestrians and cyclists from the road and motor vehicle fatalities and injuries remain the same. Remove motor vehicles from the road and fatalities and injuries for everybody drop dramatically. Toronto has the statistics showing that for the year 2020 when a lot of people worked from home leaving their cars in the driveway.

WhyFi

Are you Minnesotan? Because exactly that happened here.