The Weekenders wrote:I'm scared to death to bicycle in traffic here. For that matter, I keep ruling out get a motorcycle to save gas money for the same reason: distracted, cell-phone using, coffee-drinking, possibly medicated drivers. They don't jump sidewalks that often, but certainly swerve into the so-called bike lanes....
I commuted on a motorcycle for years - not much fun compared to a weekend ride in the hills, but it saved both gas and time. Then came a commute-time motorcycle accident that I was lucky to walk away from, and I did a reality check - I'd avoided quite a few other equally serious accidents over the years by skill (a handful) and luck (more than I liked to admit).
I've seen statistics that show that in roughly 2 out of 3 car/motorcycle accidents the car is at fault, mostly because even a big motorcycle doesn't "register" with drivers scanning for other cars. And a motorcycle is quite a bit bigger, and louder, than a bicycle.
It may be skewed recollection on my part, but over the last few years I've noticed more car/bicycle fatalities in the news than car/pedestrian fatalities - maybe because they are more dramatic, given the raw numbers Brad cites.
The thing that struck me was that the bulk of the pedestrian fatalities were older people and kids, crossing the road away from marked crosswalks (and often in low visibility conditions). The bulk of the bike fatalities were daytime, with the rider following the rules of the road, but "not being seen" because the driver wasn't alert (and often driving too fast).
You can do a lot to make yourself more visible, and (if you're a pedestrian) only cross the street in well-marked locations with good visibility. But what you *can't* control is the people around you - the more time you spend sharing the road with drivers, the higher your risk.
but still it's an impressive difference.
