Ignore NPR, Bicycling Is Safe

An irresponsible piece of journalism about biking injuries and deaths was published yesterday by National Public Radio under the headline, As More Adults Pedal, Their Biking Injuries and Deaths Spike, Too.  The story noted the fact that the number of people biking regularly has substantially increased over the past several years, while spotlighting a "striking" rise in the number of injuries and deaths from cycling among adults.  Much emphasis was placed on crashes involving middle aged men who, supposedly wanting to emulate disgraced former pro cyclist Lance Armstrong, ran out in droves a decade ago to purchase uberfast road bikes which they proceeded to crash.

Yes, bicycling has been on the rise for quite some time, particularly as a form of transportation, as opposed to recreation or sport.  Chicago, for example, saw a 150 percent increase in the number of people bicycling to work between 2000 and 2010.  Similarly, New York City has seen staggering growth in the number of people biking to work.  Despite this growth, "Bicycling  remains a healthful, inherently safe activity for tens of millions of people every year," according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.  Tens of millions.  In contrast, 743 bicycle related deaths were reported nationwide for the year 2013, according to U.S. DOT.  In Chicago the number of fatal crashes decreased by 28 percent between 2005 and 2010, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.  While one death is one too many these numbers neither suggest that bicycling is exceptionally dangerous nor that it is becoming more so.

With more people riding their bikes there will naturally be more traffic crashes involving bicyclists.  But more bicyclists on the road likely makes biking safer for the individual rider.  The idea is that there is safety in numbers.  As drivers get used to seeing more bikers, they are more likely to be on the lookout for dangerous interactions.  It is true that, according to the U.S. DOT, "bicyclists seem to be over-represented in the crash data."  Bicycle trips account for one percent of all trips in the United States, yet represent nearly two percent of all traffic fatalities.  But no reliable data exists to correlate the number of miles traveled by cyclists and the risks to which riders are exposed.  "Until we have better exposure measures, we just don't know how bicyclist risk compares to other modes," says the U.S. DOT, adding, "But the health benefits of riding may offset some of this risk."

The cause of bicycle crashes varies depending on locale, time of day, alcohol consumption and other factors.  About half of all bike crashes are due to falls caused by things like roadway defects, loose gravel and the like.  Much of the rest is due to driver inattention.  In urban areas I see crashes involving bicyclists caused largely by drivers who fail to look for cyclists while opening their doors, and failing to see cyclists within intersections.  In rural and suburban areas a bicyclist faces an increased risk of being hit from behind by an inattentive driver.  "Nearly a third of all injuries are caused when bicyclists are struck by cars," according to the U.S. DOT.  The bullshit "Lance Armstrong effect" has nothing to do with it.  This "effect" was cited by bicycle industry people in an attempt to explain the increase in road bike sales back when everyone thought Lance Armstrong was worth admiring.  Nowadays sales of new bikes probably accounts for a relatively small percentage of all bikes purchased.  Many of us by bikes second and third hand to use for commuting.  Look out your window NPR, lycra and carbon fiber, while cool, is just not the norm. 

On my daily commute along Chicago's so-called "hipster highway" I see more comfy clunkers than super light racers.  And each year, as the biking infrastructure improves I see more and more regular people on regular bikes.  In April, 2015 citylab.com reported that bike count numbers rose yearly in New York City from 2006 to 2010, correlating with a near doubling during the same period of time of the miles of bike lanes.  People want to ride their bikes.  Give them a reasonably safe place to do it and they will.

So who cares if a media outlet reports that biking is dangerous?  We all should.  The offending story re-enforces the tired and inaccurate notion that bicyclists are foolish risk-takers, or wannabes, If they get hurt they just got what was coming to them. This framing creates a real hazard.  It makes our lives seem less worthy of protection and less worthy of the continuing work necessary to make our nation's roads accommodating to cyclists.  

Chicago Bicycle Commuters On The Move

Here is an interesting chart from today's New York Times depicting the increase in bicycle commuting among a few major U.S. cities, including Chicago:

Why I Run Red Lights

I run red lights.  Stop signs too.  Not just sometimes, but often.  When I do it, it is because I view it as the safest way to approach traffic conditions.  I do not do it to simply thumb my nose at the law; and let me be clear, in Illinois running red lights and stop signs on a bicycle is against the law.  Bicyclists in Chicago can and do get ticketed for doing so.  (So far, I've be lucky in that regard.)  I do not do it to be cool.  I'm a 40-something year old, dad and lawyer.  I ain't cool.  I do it because I love to ride in the city and surviving Chicago's congested streets in my opinion sometimes requires disobeying the rules of the road.

Any city cyclist will tell you that the name of the game is staying alive; to not get poleaxed by the much faster, much heavier, fully mechanized vehicles with which we must share our streets.  That means doing whatever possible to just stay away from cars, trucks, buses.    Controlled city intersections often provide the bicyclist with a good opportunity to break away from traffic, to acquire that little cocoon of space so prized in the urban street scape.  For example, when I commute to my office in the Loop I travel in the southbound bike lane along Milwaukee Avenue, make a left on West Kinzie Street , then turn right into the bike lane at North Wells.  The route is reasonably comfortable, until Wells crosses Wacker Drive.  At that point the bike lane ends and I, and many other commuting cyclists must share the one-way street with motor vehicles underneath the "El" tracks.


View Larger Map

At that point riding anywhere but in the main lane for traffic is undesirable to say the least.  Both shoulders are guarded by "El" track support columns, parked cars and rough, uneven pavement.  Between Wacker Drive and the alleyway that accesses my building's bike room I cross three controlled intersections, West Lake Street, West Randolph Street and West Washington Street.  I slow or stop at each, but take any opportunity -- within the bounds of reason and sanity -- to traverse these cross streets when the light is red.  Doing so allows me to get away from motor vehicle traffic behind and adjacent to me.  Illegal?  Yes.  But reasonable and safe in my opinion.  The goal is to say away from motorized traffic whenever and where ever possible.

Here is what the intersection of Wells and Washington looks like:


View Larger Map

My approach is certainly open to valid criticism.  Some may argue that if I, and other bicyclists, want to be treated like traffic we should act like it by obeying the rules to which other roadway users must submit.  I have been a proponent of the "We Are Traffic" slogan often used by bicycle advocates.  Indeed bicyclists are entitled to use the road, equally entitled as a matter of fact to use it just as are cars and trucks.  This is what I think the slogan was originally meant to emphasize.  However, the angry enemies of bicycles have attempted to turn the "We Are Traffic" slogan on its head, to pick nits with every occasion a bicyclist fails to act as a motor vehicle in a given situation as an excuse for railing against cyclists.  To these would-be strict constructionists of decal slogans I would say, we are traffic, but we are not cars.  To require people on bikes to lumber around the city like a 2,000 lbs vehicle is to ignore reality, and, as I've attempted to demonstrate, to prohibit them from exercising a safe and reasonable approach to congested conditions, to selectively contravene traffic signals.

30% Increase In Bicycle Commuting In Chicago

Chicago commuters are part of a nationwide increase in the number of people bicycling to work. Between 2005 and 2008 30 percent more Chicagoans biked to work, according to statistics from United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey for those years. During that three year period the city experienced a 7.78 percent increase in the total number of workers 16 years of age and over. The nation as a whole saw a 36 percent gain in the number of bicycle commuters during the same period. Nationwide, there was a 43 percent increase in bicycle commuting between 2000 and 2008.