Serious about Safety
Every bike commuter knows is that safety is a complicated issue. They face it every day. However, some safety campaigns focus entirely on helmets. But that means there’s been a crash. What if it could have been prevented? Wouldn’t that be safer?
There’s many points along the way where an individual, a community, and a city, can prevent more tragedies from happening. Helmet or not, when you put a car against a vulnerable road user, you know who the victim will be. Cities need to get real about safety. No excuses.
I am so happy I found your blog during the #bikecommutercabal event on G+. I love the graphic!
I hope you are safe and well after the superstorm.
All I know is that if I go cycling on in my home town on route 30(in PA) which is in fact a DESIGNATED CYCLING road, albeit without any cycling lanes to speak of, complete with “share the road signs” I get run off the road 50% of the time. Mostly by people too busy fussing with their quadruple bypass coronary burgers and smartphones, then I’M the one who did something wrong as they honk of flip me off.
As someone who has cycled in many different places/regions/countries, some with more cyclists and some with almost none I noticed that the main factor affecting cycle safety is whether drivers are used to cyclists on the road (may be they even cycle themselves) and know what to do or whether they have never seen one before and have no idea what to do.
If they have no idea what to do (because they have never ever encountered one on the road before) that is when it gets scary and dangerous.
The other most important safety feature is the cyclists brain. Just as brain.exe is your best protection against computer viruses it is *your* best protection against being hit by a car. Anticipating what might happen is your best insurance against being hit. Works for me anyway (*knocks on wood*)
I agree with the points made in the graphic except for the last one, 3500 pounds vs. 135 pounds. Having some knowledge of physics helps avoid such errors. The valid comparison is not about mass, but about energy dissipated in a collision. It is, all other things being equal, the same for striking another bicyclist head-on each going 15 mph, as being struck by a car at a 15 mph speed difference. I’ve discussed the issue in some detail: http://john-s-allen.com/blog/?p=983