Cyclelicious posted a good summary of an article on Raise the Hammer about whether cycling is safe. The Raise the Hammer article seemed focused on Toronto but some of the statistics were for the US. One of the stats presented is that there are less deaths per hour of cycling than for driving. From the numbers given, I’m guessing that there are more fatalities per mile for cycling though.
I think how you ride makes a big difference on how safe it is to ride a bike. The Cyclelicous post has links to some information on riding safely. Bicycle Colorado has rules for riding in Colorado.
One thing I won’t do while riding on roads is wear headphones. I really think you need to be able to hear whats going on behind you and sense when a car is getting too close. Another important thing is to ride where people in cars expect you to be. One thing I like to do is ride a foot or two to the left of the edge of the road. That way when a car gets close to me I can move right and get a little extra space. Also I find when traffic is passing too close, wobbling a little bit makes them give extra room. I mainly just move my upper body back and forth and only slightly move the bike.
I’m not a cell phone carrying kind of guy normally but I’ve been taking one at least on my long rides the last few years. In Colorado you are allowed to use the hotline for report aggressive drivers to report drivers while you’re cycling. The important thing is to get the vehicle license plate. In case the worst happens, I wear a ID/medical band from RoadID.
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Tags: bike commuting, cycling, share the road
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Hi Rob, good post and thanks for hte link! You’re absolutely correct that rider behavior has a lot to do with the likelihood of getting hit. I’m absolutely with you on using my ears to know what’s going on around me.
If you put enough miles in an accident of some sort is inevitable. This is true whether you’re driving or cycling. This is an intimidating fact, but even while cycling most accidents are survivable. It’s the tragic exceptions that make the news.