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Cycling safety remains an issue, but what are we going to do about it?
The issue of bicycle safety is one of many layers, but two seem most obvious: a) Preventing car/bike collisions, and b) Education. Drivers and cyclists must learn to share the road.
We recently received word that a local cyclist - a member of this site - was struck by an SUV while riding. This person is recovering and will be running and riding in no time. But this accident brought the issue of cycling safety very close to home.
Two weeks ago, I pedaled around the west side, rode up to Manitou Springs and home. I'm very safety conscious and I always give drivers plenty of room to pass. But on this ride, three drivers made a point to cuss and shout at me - and one of them was traveling in the other direction! Was it the way I was dressed? My hairy legs? It seemed as if sharing the road made them angry. I ignored them and kept my eyes on the road - though it was tempting to yell back, to defend my right to be there.
A year ago, Bicycling Magazine ranked Colorado Springs No. 18 on its list of cycling friendly U.S. cities. We belong on that list. But I think the cycling community must take the lead in helping Colorado Springs move beyond the rider vs. driver conflict that has raged here for years. This begins by admitting we're part of the problem. There are still too many of us who ignore the common-sense rules of the road. I realize we'll never be perfect, but progress is always possible.
What do you think? What steps can we take to improve cycling safety in Colorado Springs?
How can we ease the ill-will that still exists between some drivers and cyclists?
Have you had any altercations with drivers recently? How did you handle the situation?
What measures do you take to stay safe while riding?
Thanks for participating!
We recently received word that a local cyclist - a member of this site - was struck by an SUV while riding. This person is recovering and will be running and riding in no time. But this accident brought the issue of cycling safety very close to home.
Two weeks ago, I pedaled around the west side, rode up to Manitou Springs and home. I'm very safety conscious and I always give drivers plenty of room to pass. But on this ride, three drivers made a point to cuss and shout at me - and one of them was traveling in the other direction! Was it the way I was dressed? My hairy legs? It seemed as if sharing the road made them angry. I ignored them and kept my eyes on the road - though it was tempting to yell back, to defend my right to be there.
A year ago, Bicycling Magazine ranked Colorado Springs No. 18 on its list of cycling friendly U.S. cities. We belong on that list. But I think the cycling community must take the lead in helping Colorado Springs move beyond the rider vs. driver conflict that has raged here for years. This begins by admitting we're part of the problem. There are still too many of us who ignore the common-sense rules of the road. I realize we'll never be perfect, but progress is always possible.
What do you think? What steps can we take to improve cycling safety in Colorado Springs?
How can we ease the ill-will that still exists between some drivers and cyclists?
Have you had any altercations with drivers recently? How did you handle the situation?
What measures do you take to stay safe while riding?
Thanks for participating!
Views: 276
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Allen Beauchamp on
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Brian,
It's truly a simple recipe of sticking out so one can be seen amongst all of the other distractions and such. Daytime running lights were made mandatory on motorcycles and cars for this reason. Now...I'm not saying at all that I am advocating for mandatory rules governing this, I can only imagine the firestorm *that* would create here in the Wild, Wild West :-)
I choose to do it based upon sound reasoning, data that shows effectiveness and my real-world testing. It's just so easy for drivers, other riders and pedestrians to not "see" a bike in an appropriate amount of time to react accordingly which I believe leads to many of the interactions. While I'd love for anyone else moving through time and space to be really dialed in to their surroundings, that real-world testing has shown me that it won't happen anytime soon...so I have developed the mantra of "Loud Lights Save Lives". A fun poke at that silly Harley-esque reasoning for why one would need to be loud and obnoxious for vanity reasons (if safety were a true motivator, wouldn't helmets and proper safety gear be used as well?).
It can be a tough road out there for people operating vehicles, I personally just enjoy using products/techniques that make me feel safer and in more control. That is truly the message I put out there when I teach cycling safety classes. It's up to us, the operators of our own vehicles to take the appropriate measures that guarantee, to the best of our ability our safe enjoyment of our chosen activity.
I like the idea of a Share the Road Task Force. I know that we have several different groups here in town that tackle that very issue at various levels and we should work on coordinating efforts between them and work on communicating the results/data from their efforts
Cheers,
Allen
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Permalink Reply by Brian McCarrie on
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Allen, I'd be interested in serving on a Share the Road task force.
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Permalink Reply by Nicole Odell on
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All, great discussion! Lots of good thoughts out there. Here are mine, which are probably similar to those mentioned above. I've not had anything thrown at me, but I've been honked at a few times.
1) Cyclists need to follow the law. I might feel silly sitting at a red light at dawn with no cars around (I usually find the crosswalk button to get the light to change) but if I were in a car I'd be sitting there too. Until CO adopts laws like a few other states where cyclists can treat red lights as stop signs and stop signs as yield signs (think I read about that in Bicycling magazine) we need to follow the rules.
2) Cyclists need to be visible. It's the unexpected that usually gets us. Sometimes there isn't much we can do as we have a much smaller profile than a car and there are a few times a day when drivers are looking into the sun. The one time I almost got hit by a car was when a car was heading east in the morning into the sun and made a left turn in front of me.(I'm still not sure how I hopped that curb on my road bike when I swerved to get out of the way and stayed upright!) I'm glad though I ride aware that this can happen so I always slow down through intersections and try to make eye contact if there is a car in that left turn lane. Allen has a lot of great ideas of being visible. I saw his LED this week. (nice Kids on Bikes jersey, too!) And like Brian, I tend to ride just to the outside of the shoulder if it is a relatively narrow one (less debris there too) and then slide over into the shoulder as cars pass.
3) Education is key. Kids ride bikes before they drive, so start there. I'm surprised more drivers aren't "bike aware" because didn't we all ride bikes to school as kids? Ok maybe that's one of the problems.Let's get more kids on bikes! As soon as I was old enough to ride my bike to school (in Miami) I did. It seems almost everyone did who didn't ride the bus. The bike lock-up fence was a cool place to be after school...well, at least it's where all my friends were. Regarding adults/teens there was lots of discussion on initiatives mentioned above to help educate drivers. Let's see what we can do because we're not going away. We need to make the roads safe for all, but that won't magically happen unless we get involved, and from this discussion, it looks like we will be.
We are a bike riding town so let's show the community we respect the rules and the roads, and I'm sure they will respect us back.
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Fantastic replies by so many people. It truly is a large part following the rules, a good measure of common sense and a willingness to cooperate with all of our fellow roadway users.
Add in a healthy dose of quality infrastructure, a measured educational approach and "positive role modeling", I think we'll be doing much, much better!
Cheers and safe pedaling!
Allen
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Permalink Reply by J. Erik Hartel on
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Let me start by saying that in a military career of over 20 years, I’ve lived, cycled, and trained hard in all regions of this country, including CA, MA, TX, AZ, TN, KY, KS, MO, and naturally, CO, as well as in Europe. As such, I consider myself an informal expert on relative cycling safety. Without a doubt, CO is by far the safest cycling place and cyclist-friendly region in the nation. In six years and probably >8000 miles in Colorado Springs, I’ve only had one or two close calls and encountered at the most a half-dozen irate drivers. That would be the same rate I’d expect on a single ride in MA, KY, TN, and parts of TX. Here are my simple tips for staying upright and unmolested on the roads of Colorado Springs…
(1) Stay out of urban areas and main thoroughfares when training. Safe cycling, urban areas, and busy roads are inherently incompatible. It’s just common sense. If you want to barrel down Colorado Ave or Nevada, or cruise along central Powers, Academy, or Circle, or time-trial along Marksheffel, then you get what you ask for. None of these roads are compatible with cycling on account of having little no shoulders, heavy traffic, rough surfaces, a manic commuter culture, distracted drivers, and high speed limits, so don’t ride there. Period. Colorado Springs offers a wealth of secondary and rural roads that skirt these danger areas. Bottom line is, do your homework by checking a map or asking for advice, and avoid the dangerous places.
(2) Ride when it’s safe. Riding at dusk or night or into a setting or rising sun is asking to get hit. Adjust your route or timing to avoid these situations. A good LED light can help enormously, but can’t outshine the sun. Similarly, some roads are better at different times of the day so plan accordingly. For example, Vollmer Road in Black Forest is an awesome ride… just not during commuting hours.
(3) Don’t hug the edge of the road. In my opinion and based on greater than 25 years of competitive cycling, it is much more dangerous to skirt the fringes of the road than to ride legally a foot or two from the edge. By asserting yourself you improve your visibility and compel vehicles to pass you deliberately, rather than simply ignore your presence and skim by. This is different from obstructing traffic, which is usually neither legal nor wise; this means riding in a manner in accordance with the law that doesn’t put you in a position where you risk riding off the road, crashing due to sand or road debris, or having to make last-minute erratic maneuvers to avoid obstacles.
(4) Assert yourself and ride with confidence and predictability. Similar to above, when you signal your intentions with arms, body, or action, (i.e. be predictable) it makes it infinitely easier for traffic to adjust to you, physically and emotionally. While approaching a cyclist, a driver is not usually irritated or looking for an altercation; they are merely concerned about safely avoiding the rider. Therefore, a rider who confidently and assertively rides a straight line without weaving or swerving and who telegraphs their intentions at turns and intersections is much easier to safely pass. That’s one reason why hugging the edge of the road is bad because it promotes erratic cycling and spooks drivers. Similarly, it is also critical for you to position yourself in the road in a manner that telegraphs your intentions. One way to do that is to follow the rules of the road like a car. Dangerous examples of not complying with this fundamental rule are not stopping at stop signs, going straight in right-turn-only lanes, and weaving in and out of traffic or up and down off sidewalks.
(5) Don’t wear headphones. This makes the cyclist part of the problem. A distracted cyclist is a menace to themselves, other cyclists, and traffic. Hearing is the cyclist’s best aid to staying upright. Without headphones, a cyclist can hear approaching traffic without having to look back, can readily judge distance to vehicles approaching from behind, and can brace themselves when they hear that gravel truck flying up from behind.
One in a hundred-thousand Colorado Springs drivers has an axe to grind with cyclists, which is a wonderfully miniscule minority in this town. Education won’t necessarily help that individual. Integrating cycling-awareness training at drivers’ education would be useful, but as most of us parents can attest, the whole cause-and-effect, actions-and-consequences discussion is often lost on our teenage population. I do agree that Colorado has done a poor job of advertising the recent changes to state law that protect cyclists… something that could be improved by integrating that training into drivers-ed. More bike lanes or wider shoulders might help, too.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that Colorado Springs is by far one of the best places to ride in the country. Until you’ve routinely experienced empty beer cans ricocheting off your helmet from passing pickup trucks on rural Kentucky roads, then you can’t truly appreciate how good we have it here. Bottom line is, cyclists can massively influence their safety simply by riding well and predictably and using commonsense.
E
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Great comments Erik, I really like your comments on planning your routes. For years, I used to commute down town on my bike from the Westside. I rode Colorado Ave all the way in until I crossed over the bridge bringing you into the dowtown area. Rather than riding Colorado Ave. through the heart of downtown, I would turn off and take some other streets that had lower traffic volume. The benefit, less cars and I added one little butt kicking hill to my commute. Thanks for your well thought out and informative comments.
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Permalink Reply by Tim Bergsten on
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Erik makes a lot of sense. I really like his No. 3 and No. 4 points. Be visible. Be predictable.
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Erik,
Your very well written response to this thread is an education course in itself. Thank you for putting into words so well what needs to be read, understood and put into practice by so many of the cyclists that we have on our roadways.
The League of American Bicyclists puts it the same way in their educational materials that a rider will have the best, safest experience on the roadway when they ride in a predictable manner and many times that has us choosing a lane position that has us truly "sharing" the roadway with the other vehicles.
It has been my experience as well that the drivers in Colorado, especially Colorado Springs are beyond courteous, bordering on being too nice many times and giving cyclists too much leeway, especially at stop signs where they will stop on a through street to let the cyclists by but I also realize that it happens often due to many cyclists blowing through them as if they don't exist so many drivers are just trying to keep from hitting someone.
Cheers and I look forward to the continuation of this thread and taking it to the next level, getting education out to the vehicular masses that we all share the roadways with.
Cheers,
Allen
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