Bike Safety in Big City Traffic
73I read another hub recently that gave what amounts to conventional advice on how to ride a bike in traffic. Some of it I agree with and will repeat in some fashion here. Other parts of it, I just cannot get on board with. There are too many cyclists out there, in my opinion, who have decided to conform and concede to the car culture that dominates most American cities. The so-called rules of the road are set for cars and cyclists are expected to follow them. Such a notion is absolutely absurd. When I refer to bike safety, I really don't mean cyclists making concessions to a broken system; instead, I think the system needs to become more safe to accomodate cyclists, pedestrians, and the like.
Bikes are completely different animals than cars... and by doing things like stopping at red lights or staying in the bike lane, a cyclist might be putting him or herself in danger. You have to be smart... and you have to realize the system you are forced to operate in... an oppressive and dangerous one thanks to the lunacy of the car culture we live in.
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Therefore... the things I say here are to be taken with a grain of salt. If you follow my advice, you do so at your own risk. I take no responsibility for what might happen to you because half of the game is execution when you are actually out in the street. It takes a certain type of person to handle traffic while on a bike in the way I describe. Heck, I ride a fixed gear bike with no brakes. But I know how to ride it and am probably safer than most people who ride with gears and brakes. No matter how you view the issue of bike safety, we all want to do our best to NOT get hurt out there.
First, I don't wear a helmet. I think it is a shame that cyclists face scorn for not wearing one. Shouldn't the system that puts our lives in danger when we choose to ride a bike get the brunt of criticism and the paternalistic scoldings? I love when someone blows by me going many miles over the speed limit and then at the subsequent red light scolds me for not wearing a helmet. What does my lack of headgear have to do with their reckless driving? Should you wear a helmet? Probably. Should you have to? No.
Second, I listen to my iPod when riding. I hear everything that happens - horns, road noise, engines, sirens, you name it. Riding with music makes the traffic noise less of a rattle to the central nervous system frankly. And with music in my ears and no brakes on my bike, I have to concentrate on the road 100% of the time with no deviation. I have to play chess when I ride my bike, thinking of the moves that might be made by cars blocks away. Without the security of brakes, for example, I take nothing for granted. I don't relax. I focus and, in the process, I am safer.
Never ride on the sidewalk. It's death. Cars turning right likely cannot see you in their mirrors and you are often out of the vantage point of people pulling out of parking lots and driveways. Plus you might just murder a pedestrian if you are on the sideWALK.
Don't hug the curb or even stay in the bike lane 100% of the time. Ride where you are visible and safest. If there are rows of parked cars stay away from the 'door zone...' meaning make sure if a door is randomly opened you are far enough away as to not get whacked by it. If a car is turning right (or you think it might be), don't ride by it on its passenger side... get behind and go by on it's left side. And remember, if you are in the traffic lane, you are in front of cars so they can see you... and probably better than if you are tucked away on their right side.
Pick
and choose the red lights and stop signs you are going to obey. Be
smart. If there are cars going thru green at your intersection, stay
put... but if you can get through the red light safely and give
yourself a cushion from the waiting cars, do it. This will ensure that
they see you up ahead and that they don't blow by you when the light
turns green... it is unsettling and makes you virtually invisible. As
for stop signs... treat those four-way stops like a ballet. Adjust your
speed to time blowing a stop sign perfectly.
Most of all, and I have learned this after riding extensively in San Francisco and now Los Angeles, temper your disdain for how people treat you out there with a 'let it roll off of your back' attitude. The fact is that most people in cars are cool or they simply have no idea what it's like to be one of the few on a bike in a sea of automobiles and raucous traffic. Some people are plain reckless jerks, potential murderers. Stay cool. Realize that on a bike you are free. In a car, they are curtailed. Heck in places like SF and LA you can get places faster on a bike than in a car. Pick your battles.
Ride hard. Have fun. Stay alert. Ride often.
CommentsLoading...
It's an interesting subject, no doubt, and a growing one. Lots of interesting takes out there as 'bike culture' is growing in places like NYC and LA. I would live to ride daily in Manhattan!
I won't ride anywhere except at the beach, I'm worried for all the looneys on the road.
I do wear a helmet - but each to his own.
In the UK, esp. in winter, I think it's important to have some reflective gear, better to be seen more than less!
It's often safer to slow down at a red light than it is to stop. It's always a hairy moment when the light turns green and you have to surge forward with the cars, trying to assert your place. It's usually not cool to run the light full speed, though. There's always some hole in your field of vision that could hide a car traveling many MPH over the speed limit as you so eloquently put it.
I, too, wear a helmet. Saved me a cracked melon at least twice and road rash on at least a half dozen occasions during my three decades cycling in traffic. If it is not too uncomfortable or unhip for the pros, it's ok for me, too. Nevertheless I agree. If people want to ride with no lights in dark clothes at night in the rain in traffic with no helmet, that's their biz, not mine.
Having bounced off the door of a Mercedes and done a shoulder roll across the trunk of an Impala, my attitude toward bike safety has been adjusted accordingly. I wish for others a gentler teacher.
Hey Tom:
I don't disagree with everything you say; in fact I agree with much of it. For example, I use lights and can't find a good reason not to, especially with the compact, yet effective ones that are out there for a relatively low price.
I guess my main point of contention is this - urban (and suburban) cyclists are forced to adhere to all of these inane rules that are only in place because of the dangerous situation created by the car culture on our roadways. The focus should be on making the system sane and safer as opposed to making someone who rides a bike have to do all of these to keep themselves safe. That makes sense right? On the other hand, I understand the reality and the notion that it is folly to ignore it on principle.
But I also think (and I hope I am not jinxing myself here cos I surely do not consider myself invincible!) that with experience some people are just safer out there than others... Like I said, I think I am safer riding fixed and brakeless than most people I see with full gear, gears, and brakes.
However you ride, have fun and be safe!
Riding fixed has given me a new sense of control that I otherwise would have been blind to. After moving to NYC to become a bicycle messenger I realized that city riding was a different animal, and therefore required a different saddle, so to speak. My first investment was a 1993 steel track bike with a fixed gear. Leaving everything I had ever known was almost too much for me, I would doubt myself at every hurdle. Everything was new to me. The job, the city, the laws, the bike, the weather, even the food was different. Experience proved tedious to attain. Every foot I moved was done with care and full attention. I realized that this was not going to be an easy task. The fact that over 20 messengers died a year did not help boost my confidence either. Every day I came home dirty, tired, and sore. Every morning I would wake up cursing and mad. Despite this not once did I miss work. Not once did I call in sick. An empty stomach, it seemed, was much more dreadful than the cold hostile streets of the city.
One day, after I came home especially tired, I sat down in my chair and realized that there was no more pain. In the morning I woke up and was out the door before I realized that it was my day off. Instead of going back to sleep, which is what I normally would have done, I took my bike and rode hard out the door. I realized later that this was a turning point in my life. I had became one with the city. My bike, an extension of myself. My rubber tires, the synapses and connection with the streets. I knew how much effort it would take to go up 3rd ave between 14th st and 23rd, and exactly how long it would take me. I knew every street on the Manhattan map, and even the ones that were on the map. I began to pace myself, saving my explosiveness for when i needed to out maneuver a turning cab or run a red light. I began to read drivers and pedestrians body language to predict when and where they would change lanes. Even sounds became instinctual. The buzzing of printers in cabs hinting that someone in a cab was about to finish paying and swing open a door. The distinct whistling that would come from buses when they begin to slow to a stop. My commutes became flawless, my riding and pedaling seamless, balance and awareness so precise it would sometimes amaze and scare even myself. With my heart pounding, my senses filled, and my mind focused, my soul was free. I realized without a doubt that cycling made me happy.
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BkCreative Level 6 Commenter 3 years ago
How interesting. I just asked a friend if I can interview her - because she is a bicylcist here in NYC and I don't know how she does it - over bridges, in the middle of the night, the worst traffic - and all wearing cute clothes. Please stay tuned!!!!