To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets

[Smokey33]

Most of my on-road biking is in urban areas, and I'm almost always in the middle of the lane, or the right tire-track.

The lanes here are barely wide enough to fit a car. There's no way a bike and a car can both fit side by side in a lane without your sideview mirror hitting my elbow.

Plus there's the fact that every street I ride on has rows of parked cars on both sides. You'd be really stupid to ride very close to a row of parked cars. You can get doored. Cars can abruptly pull out of spaces. Pedestrians can dart out from between them.

Taking the lane gives you room to maneuver should something like that happen. Trying to be courteous to motorists in those situations is gonna end in an ugly manner for me.

 

[YankeeFan]

In the final days of one of the most painful seasons of his career, Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine on Tuesday lay entangled with his bicycle at the bottom of a ditch next to the Central Park Reservoir.

On the wet, slippery path, Valentine was reading a text on his phone from Dustin Pedroia, the Red Sox second baseman, and riding his bicycle. When he looked up, he had to swerve to avoid the umbrellas of two French tourists walking in front of him. The bike skidded, and he lost his balance and went careening head over pedals down the side of the hill by the road.

"I shouldn't have been reading a text while I was riding, " he said. "That's the wrong thing to do. But at least I was wearing my helmet."

Valentine sustained minor injuries to his knees and hips. An avid cyclist, Valentine rides his bicycle to Fenway Park most days and takes it on trips to ride in the afternoons before heading to the ballpark.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/sports/baseball/bobby-valentine-injured-after-reading-text-while-cycling.html?_r=2&

 

[JakeandElwood]

He was texting and biking? Lol, what did he expect to happen?

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Most important question: Is the bike OK?

 

[JR]

The GW trail is a crazy mix of runners, slow joggers, recreational bikers and road bikers who think they're riding in the Tour de France. I like the trail and ride it when I get up to visit my mom, but you have to be real careful there. We have a trail similar to it down this way (though a bit shorter), and you just have to be careful to signal and yell at people when you're going to pass. My favorite is when you yell "ON YOUR LEFT!" at someone and their response is to turn around and gawk at you. No, dumbass, that means move!

Do you live in Toronto?

We have a multi-purpose trail that runs along the lake from one end of the city to another--about 25 kms

On a weekend afternoon in the summer it's like rush hour.

You have pedestrians walking four abreast across both lanes, strollers with small children darting back and fourth, people with dogs who are not leashed, skateboarders and rollerbladers all over the places and cyclists with their headphones on.

I have a bell but I used to use a Fox 40 Whistle. That gets people's attention.