5 ms·

I bicycle commuted for years in an American city. It is as safe as your local council decides it should be, and my commute always felt safe. Don't give in to th

I bicycle commuted for years in an American city. It is as safe as your local council decides it should be, and my commute always felt safe. Don't give in to the belief that unsafe cycling is inevitable.

notch898a 4y ago
Alright, here's my anecdote in kind. I biked for over a decade without incident for leisure. Then I started bicycle commuting. Within one year I had not one but two occasions where I was knocked unconscious by angry rush hour drivers. I no longer could plan my destination but rather had to fight the entirety of traffic trying to get downtown at the same time at once. I still have trouble with one arm and the other time I believe I got a concussion after the driver destroyed my bike hitting me broadside and drove off. I have about 3-4 years of biking as only transport including working as a full time professional bike messenger. I have never been hurt outside of rush hour. I have never been hurt on a planned leisure route. Only when I cannot pick the destination. The hostility in my experience is like 10x dealing with angry to/from work rush-hour traffic headed to a dense job-rich area, especially with folks like soccer moms desperate to pick up their kiddy from daycare in time, etc.
- kyleee 4y ago
  Hard won wisdom, I am glad you made it through your injuries. I generally will only cycle in my area on weekdays around 09:30 to 13:30 or so in order to avoid any rush hour or high traffic times as much as possible. It makes a significant difference. As you note and in my experience the school drop off / pick up times are the scariest as you near schools and arteries on the school destination paths. There are frequently backups and gridlock situations at these times, coupled with palpable driver anxiety and hurriedness, which just seems like a recipe to get killed or maimed as a cyclist
thatswrong0 4y ago
I mean, it's inevitable for a lot of Americans unless they're willing to devote a significant amount of resources and / or time to try and convince local politicians to spend a bunch of money and fix decades of misguided urban planning, while potentially trying to dodge pushback from local interests who think that changes to make biking safer and more convenient is a zero-sum situation that comes at the expense of others. I would never bike commute where I live currently, and I don't think that will change any time soon despite it being a relatively left leaning urban area.
TheCoelacanth 4y ago
Yes, it is as safe as your local council decides, which in the US is somewhere between really unsafe and Mad Max.

notch898a 4y ago

Alright, here's my anecdote in kind. I biked for over a decade without incident for leisure. Then I started bicycle commuting. Within one year I had not one but two occasions where I was knocked unconscious by angry rush hour drivers. I no longer could plan my destination but rather had to fight the entirety of traffic trying to get downtown at the same time at once. I still have trouble with one arm and the other time I believe I got a concussion after the driver destroyed my bike hitting me broadside and drove off. I have about 3-4 years of biking as only transport including working as a full time professional bike messenger. I have never been hurt outside of rush hour. I have never been hurt on a planned leisure route. Only when I cannot pick the destination. The hostility in my experience is like 10x dealing with angry to/from work rush-hour traffic headed to a dense job-rich area, especially with folks like soccer moms desperate to pick up their kiddy from daycare in time, etc.

kyleee 4y ago
Hard won wisdom, I am glad you made it through your injuries. I generally will only cycle in my area on weekdays around 09:30 to 13:30 or so in order to avoid any rush hour or high traffic times as much as possible. It makes a significant difference. As you note and in my experience the school drop off / pick up times are the scariest as you near schools and arteries on the school destination paths. There are frequently backups and gridlock situations at these times, coupled with palpable driver anxiety and hurriedness, which just seems like a recipe to get killed or maimed as a cyclist

thatswrong0 4y ago

I mean, it's inevitable for a lot of Americans unless they're willing to devote a significant amount of resources and / or time to try and convince local politicians to spend a bunch of money and fix decades of misguided urban planning, while potentially trying to dodge pushback from local interests who think that changes to make biking safer and more convenient is a zero-sum situation that comes at the expense of others. I would never bike commute where I live currently, and I don't think that will change any time soon despite it being a relatively left leaning urban area.

TheCoelacanth 4y ago

Yes, it is as safe as your local council decides, which in the US is somewhere between really unsafe and Mad Max.