Suppers guys, well today i wanna talk about safely cycling and commuting on roads... Pretty much my rule of thumb is NEVER EVER cycle on sidewalks... if you do, you're gonna get in an accident and you can die... why?? well lets put it in this perspective... why do people cycle on sidewalks in the first place?? because they are scared of cars.. they don't want to be in an automobile's way. and they try to be invisible to cars.. what happens when you try to be invisible to cars?? they naturally wont be able to see you and when cars don't see you, accidents will happen. riding on sidewalks might give you a false sense of security but you must realize there are driveways intersecting with sidewalks EVERYWHERE!!!! and cars don't hesitate to drive up these driveways, especially when you do not see a cyclist(who's apparently trying to be hidden in the first place).
so where should you ride??? well most people think cyclists should be in the bike lane. and normally i do take bike lanes when available... but be careful!! bike lanes are pretty dangerous also... but NO WHERE NEAR as dangerous as cycling on a sidewalk... when i ride a bike lane i'm super aware of my surroundings... i always make sure no one's going to be flying out of a driveway into me or turning into me at an intersection.. those are the scariest... but in general bike lanes are SOOOOO much safer than sidewalks... and pretty convenient too, since it's a lane made specifically for cyclists, i guess go ahead and use it...
Ok so sidewalks are a death trap for cyclists, and bike lanes still require you to be super aware of your surroundings.. What's the safest way to travel by cycle?? truth is the safest way to cycle is in the middle of a car lane! some uneducated people might think this is crazy! as cars are driving 45mph and faster on car lanes, but think of it this way... the safest cyclists are the cyclists that are the most visible. when cycling in the middle of a street lane you are in direct view of a motorist. and when a motorist sees a bicycle in front of him he'll slow down or change lanes to pass... now think about it... does a motorist slow down and change lanes for a cyclist in a bike lane??? NOPE!! but when you get out of the bike lane, into the lane of a car, the car will slow down, or pass you on the other lane, and normally at a slower speed than normal... also the car passing will be 6-8 feet away from you when he's passing... when a car passes a cyclist in a bike lane, the car will not slow down.. he or she will be going 45mph or faster and be passing you 1-3 feet away from you if you're lucky... so tell me now.. what's more safe???
anyways.. some of you motorists out there will be like "well you're just slowing down traffic!!" ok lets look at it this way... if i'm in a bicycle in the middle of a lane... when do you do?? you pass in the other lane.. how much time to do you lose getting to your destination??? 1, 2 seconds, if any!?? how bout a slower car in front of you??? well you'll be behind that car for a while. how bout buses?? people get stopped completely!! and school buses?? same thing!! you get stopped for an entire minute waiting for those things... even if i were to be in a car instead of a bicycle... that's another car you'd have to deal with on the road.
Now think of it like this... what if 5 or even 10 cyclists were on the road... how much time would it take to pass a group of 5 or 10 cyclists??? probably the same amount of time as it takes to pass one cyclist... but what if there are 5 or 10 more motorists on the road instead of cyclists??? you get more traffic... instead of passing these cyclists, and never having to be slowed down by them again, you have to drive behind 5 or 10 cars for a couple minutes... being slowed down for a large part of your trip... so remember this next time you see a cyclist on the road... they're doing you a favor by not being part of the traffic problem...
Now check out this interesting fact... Portland... a city with one of the best cycling infrastructure.. has absolutely NOO traffic hours.. keep in mind that it's a large city that's been growing very fast!!! the amount of vehicles on the road has increased something like 75% in the past 15-20 years.. but they have not had ANY increase in traffic!! why??? because that 75% increase in vehicles was from people cycling... if you were to drive a car through portland during the peak traffic hours... you wouldn't be affected what so ever by slow traffic condition... and it's because there is such a good biking infrastructure there and people cycle...
cycling does everyone a favor... and I admire it whenever i see ANYONE cycling on the road taking over a lane... those people aren't a problem... they're trying to be the solution to the problem...
