Is it safe yet?

I often get asked if I feel safe when riding my bike on the road. The answer is “yes”. I practice good road bike riding, and manage the danger zones by using statistics to my advantage. I do have an occasional run in with a driver. All of these issues were related to rudeness, not bad driving.

But just because I feel safe, does that make it safe? In 2007, almost 700 bike riders were killed on US roads. More than half a million riders end up in the emergency room each year. Seven hundred bike riders dead… do you really want to ride on the road? About 90% of cyclists killed on our roads die as a result of a collision with an automobile. Contrast this with the 40,000 people in automobiles killed on our roads in the average year, and suddenly 700 riders sounds low. Although if I were one of the 700 killed, this statistic wouldn’t make me feel better.

So how do statistics help me ride? They show that 87% of bike accidents occur in intersections. This would probably send many bike riders around the block, only making right turns. But not this guy, I use statistics to keep me safe. I am especially aware and safe when approaching and traversing an intersection. That means I only have to deal with 13% of the risks. Wearing a helmet is a huge risk mitigator – Around 60% of rider brain injuries could be prevented by wearing a helmet. So I wear a helmet – and on the statistics go.

A couple of years ago I found that I may be tracking the wrong statistic. Scientific American published a story with a very simple metric to follow. What are the percentage of women riders in a geographic area? This may be the best indicator of how safe the riding actually is. My first thought was that this was just more male bashing. A feckless attempt to portray men as idiots without any risk meters installed. Never mind the fact that 17 years ago my wife – then girlfriend – opted to stay home instead of going mountain biking on a cold and slushy day. Ignore the fact that the emergency room had to reset my arm back into the shoulder socket, a pain I still feel, yes, even today. Of course I can pretend I didn’t ride my bike through Monsey, or Mordor as I lovingly referred to it, dodging minivans, pedestrians, and Spring Valley Taxis, arriving home to relate the stupidity of every driver who tried to kill me, as my wife stared blankly back. But that would be too easy. I needed to determine if this was the correct metric to answer – “is it safe yet?”.

America is way behind the rest of the developed world in providing transportation alternatives to the gasoline powered wheel chairs that fill our roads. First, most of our dedicated bike trails and paths are in areas that don’t support riding as an alternate transportation method. Most paths are strategically placed in parks, where you can ride in circles around pedestrians and runners, after driving your car to get there (and to get back home). Paths don’t go from our homes to the shopping centers or places of work.

Biking in America as an alternate means of getting around accounts for less than 2% of all trips we make. In the Netherlands, 27% of trips are completed on bikes. Interestingly, in America, less than one third of the riders using bikes as transportation are women, and in the Netherlands, the percentage of women riders exceeds 55%. In Germany, half of all riders are women.

In the Scientific American article, women are referred to as “indicator species”. Sorry men, we aren’t indicator species. This title is relegated to the women. If women aren’t riding, it is probably not safe to ride.

So how do we get more women out riding as transportation? Studies show that a bike infrastructure increases the number of riders, since it is safer to ride in areas designated to ride. Another interesting statistic is that as the number of riders increase, safety exponentially increases for all riders. Tom Vanderbilt’s book Traffic attributes this to drivers’ not noticing a solitary bike rider, but once they see many, they drive more safely. 

Cycling is a sustainable transportation method, is green, fights the fat monster who has invaded our lives, and places us closer to those around us. Try nodding and saying hello to a pedestrian from your car while driving 50 miles per hour. It isn’t noticed. Conversely, I was mumbling under my breath at the car in front of me one day while riding the bike to work. A woman walking her dog on the sidewalk stared at me. I caught myself, and said "I forgot. For a moment I thought I was in my car and no one could hear me". She smiled and laughed as she continued on her way. I blushed in embarrassment, and rolled forward. 

So women, please ride your bikes, and take your men with you. As riding becomes more commonplace and safer, men can increase the risk by participating in other activities while riding – like counting the women riders.

Is it safe yet? If you’re a guy, you probably don’t know, so please go ask a woman. And if you like this post, share it using the buttons below.