Could/Would you walk or bike to work if it was safer ?

[DougPaul]

I've been commuting by bicycle, 5 days a week, year-round, since 1980. It's become such that I feel safer on a bicycle than a car during a snowstorm. I have much more flexibility.

Pete seems to be too bashful to mention it himself, so here is a link to his pages on winter cycling: http://newmud.comm.uottawa.ca/~pete/bike.html

Doug

 

[Little Rickie]

Pete seems to be too bashful to mention it himself, so here is a link to his pages on winter cycling: http://newmud.comm.uottawa.ca/~pete/bike.html

Doug

Good stuff. Fun read. How long is your commute Pete?

 

[jrichard]

I have had complaints about how bright my lights are...

No doubt. These lights are quite bright if you are looking at them directly.

It's all about the conditions. I'm talking about an unlit, high traffic, with travelled speeds of about 45 (speed limit is actually 35), with PUDS and twists and turns on a numbered route. It's actually hard to see anything due to the blinding from the car's lights, half of whom forget to turn off their highbeams and the rest who seem to have HID lights.

It's really tough to see the spread from the front lights of a bike in these conditions. It's hard to see that same bike's lights cresting the hill on the other side of the road. In both cases, the more powerful lights from the cars outshine the bike's lights and the bike is lost in the noise. In my opinion, that road just isn't safe for night traffic.

The same is true with "blinkys". However, reflectors on pedals are usually more obvious to me.

(Yes, I use light sources when riding at night! I'm just trying to be practical wrt the question of safety.)

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Funny how varied people's experiences are here. There is no doubt in my mind that I am highly visible. I get way more respect from passing traffic, head-on traffic, etc., at night while I am lit up and wearing reflective clothing.

Just yesterday I got passed by a dimwit on the phone in a blind, narrow S turn, having put my hand out requesting that said dimwit wait, but said dimwit couldn't be bothered and of course there was an oncoming car. Good thing there wasn't another rider or walker opposite me or someone would have gotten hurt. This is a semi-regular occurrence on this S turn, and I often ride the middle of the lane, which often helps, but it's not a guarantee, to deter passing until the lines of sight are good. I have never been overtaken in this turn (one of two, actually I've never been overtaken in either) at night.

I suppose it could be that people are not as rushed later on, trying to make it home for dinner or kid's sports or whatever. Maybe they just feel they can see better in daylight. Maybe they're afraid of hitting a deer. I'm not sure what it is.

I have two red LED tail lights - one steady, one blinking, one at the rear of my saddle, and one on the back of my helmet. I have a twin-beam 400 lumen light mounted oni the front of my helmet. I wear reflective leg bands which are clearly going up and down while pedaling, and a reflective vest. I often ask cars a light or stop sign, or my wife if she's been by, how visible was I and I always get "very visible."

I ride from Exit 5 (Nashua) to near Bedford Center, following DW highway / aka the old route 3 for the heaviest traveled stretch. It has a nice shoulder.

Tim

 

[jrichard]

Just yesterday I got passed by a dimwit on the phone in a blind, narrow S turn, having put my hand out requesting that said dimwit wait, but said dimwit couldn't be bothered and of course there was an oncoming car.

I could vent about similar occurrences all night (complete with the road rash and bike repairs from when that passing car decides to come back into your lane), but it comes down to:

Not all drivers are rational, and you are sharing the road with them.

That's why I prefer back roads and trails.

BTW: our routes aren't that far away, geographically.

 

[Jay H]

Yes, the reflectors on the spokes or sidewall are excellent and strips on the crank or shoes work well, you can typically buy some bike shoes that are refective and some rain gear have built in reflective strips to them.

I have bought some stick on reflective stuff and stuck them to my front forks, seat stays, the back of my helmet. My n'Aero panniers have reflective strips on them, in fact, I probably look like something out of Close Encounters of the Bike Kind at night.

I have a dual beam 35W bike light powered by my own DIY bike pack but I also sometimes use a Black Diamond Icon with the 3W super Xenon bulb in addition to a simple front light to replace the 35W bike lights cause my DIY pack is quite a hefty thing (6Watts, using about 6 D size rechargeable batteries, has a good battery life).

Jay

 

[jbrown]

In March I started a new job which cut my commute from 40 miles down to less than 3 1/2. One of the first things I did was to go out and purchase a new bike for myself. (I was looking for a used one, but couldn't find a suitable one that was in my price range and didn't require all kinds of build-up.)

Living in Syracuse for a while, I hadn't really noticed how un-bike-friendly the city really is until I tried to get from my house in Eastwood to my building downtown safely. There are some really poorly laid out intersections that are directly in the line of my route that I must hit on the way to work if I don't want to exert too much effort on detouring around on hills (which I don't, because I don't usually want to have to take a shower at work first thing in the morning...) On the way home I have a little more leeway and I hit the hills hard to avoid a couple of nasty spots, but it's still difficult through the neighborhoods at a couple of 2-way stops that people coast through when I don't have a stop sign. I've nearly been hit about 4-5 times in the 3 months that I've been riding. Some surface streets are wide enough for me to ride on the shoulder safely, but others have tried to cram 2 lanes into barely enough room for one lane and parking space, so I can't even ride there (James St.)

I've started the planning stages of making my bike more visible, I'm making a generator/battery charger/lighting system for it. I'm waiting for a friend to get me a free stepper motor, but I've got the LED's for it and may hack an old cell phone for the battery pack and charging circuit if I can figure it out. Right now I'm riding in the daytime anyway, so I just pray that the dopes on the road (including me) use wisdom when driving and riding so we all get home safely.

 

[jfb]

There's been a bit of a debate in Washington, apparently, whether walking and biking paths/corridors/lanes should be part of the national transportation budget and initiatives or not.

I don't see this issue as being related specifically to commuting to/from work. I'd love to see more safe bike paths that I could ride for recreation. It's pretty obvious that highways are also used by many for driving to destinations to enjoy recreational activities.

 

[Jay H]

In March I started a new job which cut my commute from 40 miles down to less than 3 1/2. One of the first things I did was to go out and purchase a new bike for myself. (I was looking for a used one, but couldn't find a suitable one that was in my price range and didn't require all kinds of build-up.)

Living in Syracuse for a while, I hadn't really noticed how un-bike-friendly the city really is until I tried to get from my house in Eastwood to my building downtown safely. There are some really poorly laid out intersections that are directly in the line of my route that I must hit on the way to work if I don't want to exert too much effort on detouring around on hills (which I don't, because I don't usually want to have to take a shower at work first thing in the morning...) On the way home I have a little more leeway and I hit the hills hard to avoid a couple of nasty spots, but it's still difficult through the neighborhoods at a couple of 2-way stops that people coast through when I don't have a stop sign. I've nearly been hit about 4-5 times in the 3 months that I've been riding. Some surface streets are wide enough for me to ride on the shoulder safely, but others have tried to cram 2 lanes into barely enough room for one lane and parking space, so I can't even ride there (James St.)

I've started the planning stages of making my bike more visible, I'm making a generator/battery charger/lighting system for it. I'm waiting for a friend to get me a free stepper motor, but I've got the LED's for it and may hack an old cell phone for the battery pack and charging circuit if I can figure it out. Right now I'm riding in the daytime anyway, so I just pray that the dopes on the road (including me) use wisdom when driving and riding so we all get home safely.

I don't know about your work hours, but I usually didn't use lights til mid to late october and then after the time change..

Best things for visibility is the parts on the bike that move, i.e. the wheels, the sidewall tires (check out Schwalbe who have reflective sidewalls), those cheap CPSC reflectors on the spokes, your pedals and/or shoes...

All those are very refective cause they are in motion. You can also think of reflective band on your arms, if you use hand signals. I also tend to put relfective stickers on my helmets, my front fork...

Jay

 

[jbrown]

All good ideas, Jay. I do need to accessorize with the reflective tape, once my cargo rack is complete that I've been building off and on, I may purchase a kit from These Dudes to spice up the bike a bit. Basic kit is only $18 and comes in all kinds of colors to blend with the tube color if you want.

The bags I strap on the top of the rack that will become my panniers when the rack is finished, have a reflective stripe down the side too, but it's not that large. I wear full-fingered MTB gloves to ride that are bright red (and I do use hand signals, though not many motorists seem to pay attention to the meaning...it just gets their attention...), but I know they won't stand out much once the dawn and dusk light starts fading.

Being the geek that I am, much of my accessorizing may revolve around LED's and rechargeables, but in the meantime, a judicious use of reflectors is definitely prudent.