Originally posted by mark taylor
Well, here in Seattle we have a heavily traveled bike path called the Burke-Gilman Trail-a Rails to Trails Project traveled by thousands every day, I guess. I've broken bones on it twice, once due to braking hard for a dimwitted skater who couldn't decide on which side of the path to travel. Low speed, but I went over the bars and broke my arm. I guess it was due in large part to overly agressive front wheel braking. The second injury was due to the fact that in many places the trail is crossed by streets. Vehicle operators are prone to taking their "free right" at a stop sign or red light and are looking out for other vehicles, not bikes in the cross walk. That is just what happened as I cruised through a crosswalk on a pedestrian "walk" sign and slammed into a tow truck, whose operator had made the aforementioned free right and probably never saw me till I kissed his driver's side window. I broke my collar bone, and it still hurts after more than 18 mos. Now I find I feel much safer on the road for 2 reasons: (1) When you are going the same direction as the cars, through the same lights, etc. they are more likely to see you, and I must say, for the most part are considerate, some even to the point of being exasperating (just PASS me for crying out loud!) Furthermore, any time a path is crossed by traffic, it is more dangerous than being in a street intersection. (2) a pedestrian/bike path (very few bike-only paths in this country I think) has way too many users who have little or no awareness of each other, for example, the walkers who walk five abreast, and despite the fact that there are bikes going both ways, keep regrouping in that pattern, or the joggers/skaters/walkers who not only have their walkman on so they can't hear you, will change direction, or cross the path *****-nilly, without first looking over their shoulder! Do you know how many feet/second one is traveling at only 15 miles an hr? (I calculate 22!)
In short, bicycling is dangerous. The faster you go, the more dangerous it is. Nothing is inevitable and if you pay attention as if your life, or a least your skeletal integrity, depended on it, it is less likely that you will encounter a vehicle in a painful way. After all, there are many vehicle drivers out there who have logged perhaps a hundred thousand hours behind the wheel of a car without a single crash. But the big difference is that you don't have the full metal jacket, air bags and bumper to protect you on that 18 lb bicycle!
I think about dying on my bike almost every time I go riding, and it is a great thing to know that I am conciously deciding to risk it anyway, for the incomparable pleasure of using only my muscles and the most elegant machine on the planet (bicycles in general, not my specific bike) to speed to anywhere, nowhere.