I'm curious. I know where my life diverged and where I would've been a car guy otherwise, would be interested to see what the dealio with other people is or whether they even ever thought about it
I'm curious. I know where my life diverged and where I would've been a car guy otherwise, would be interested to see what the dealio with other people is or whether they even ever thought about it
As a biker the main reason that anyone should not bike is if they live in the US and value their life. Biking in the US is TERRIFYING and I know zero people who bike regularly who have not been injured by a car. I still do it and others should too but it's basically one of only 2 valid excuses as far as I am concerned
I do think people are bad at estimating this risk (both over and under estimating it at times), and frankly the data on it isn't the best. My city has pretty good infrastructure and culture around biking, but the stats are still not great I imagine. What is my risk level if I stick to the high quality paths and calm side streets? Is it better for the people that just bike down sidewalks and don't follow the separated lanes and paths? I don't know. I do the former and it feels pretty safe, but there's still a ton of cars around that could maim me any day. I assume the majority of the injuries are happening off of the dedicated bike infrastructure (not to say they deserve it at all, just that one can probably lower their risk by being cautious and staying away from busy roads with poor to no bike infra)
You can put that zero up to a one though. I've biked much of my life, give or take a few years of car dependency, and not been injured by a car yet. I think I have a lucky horseshoe up my ass or something.
In most parts of the US its defs hazardous, but as someone living in one of the better places for biking as transportation in the US, people still act like it's instant death out there, so I'm becoming less and less receptive to the safety argument, as I think it's mostly used here at least as a thought terminator by people who haven't tried it and don't want to. Same with weather in some ways.
I guess it's less a worry about actively dying, and more a worry about being doored and breaking something. That's how the vast majority of people I know have been hurt, by being doored. There's just only so much you can do about that as a biker and most cities put it like road | bike lane | parking | sidewalk so the risk of getting doored or having a car turn out into you at low speed trying to get from parking to the road is just massive.
Yeah. I'm extremely lucky that there's a lot of options where I am that aren't a painted bicycle gutter. I still end up on those roads all the time, but it'll usually be less than half of my trip distance so when I'm in one its easier to keep my guard up. I'm also just getting really comfortable riding in mixed traffic on calm side streets tbh, because there's enough critical mass of bikers where I am that outright rage at a cyclist "in their way", on streets that aren't main streets or highways, seems to be uncommon. But where possible I do love a good separated path or lane. We have a variety, some totally off street, some on street but 2 way and parking-protected, or curb-protected. Some are at sidewalk level, especially in the CBD, which I have mixed feelings about but is great protection from drivers and doors. And of course lots of legacy painted bicycle gutters too
Like yesterday I had to go across town to pick up a package from an unusual pickup location. I went like:
3-4 miles total. And the most dangerous bit in that entire journey genuinely might have been the parking lot at the end, though the side streets between the bridge and the rail trail are pretty bustling (but very low speed).
Plenty of journeys are much worse than that example (venturing into most suburbs is a mixed bag) but like, the whole metro area is honestly much better than the national average and I still get people here acting like its suicide. I'd rather live with the risk than let my (un)happiness be dictated to me by amorphous, ill-defined fear. I know so many people with chronic injuries (whiplash, concussion, back problems, etc) from car accidents, but they don't just stop driving cars, even though they've been hurt by them and know how bad they are for the planet and society. It's dictated by social norms and going with the flow much more than most people like to admit, so they rationalize. It can be exhausting going against the flow, but its worth it
A lot could be done simply by banning huge pickups without a permit and banning semi-trucks entirely tbh, with no investment in infrastructure.