Bicycling Risk

[rebeccmeister]

One of the people who witnessed the rear-ending incident saw fit to Mansplain to me, shortly thereafter, about how, even though I had a fully functional taillight and a helmet bedazzled with reflective material, I should clearly add even more blinky red lights to my posterior so as to prevent drivers from glancing at the Dunkin Donuts and failing to notice me when I am stopped at a traffic light.

...back when we lived in the Greater Phoenix Suburb-o-Politan area, scrottie and I knew of a bicyclist named Ben. Well, actually, we knew of at least 5 guys named Ben, who all rode bicycles, so we had to start issuing nicknames pretty quickly there. (Crazy Ben remains my absolute favorite of the Bens, although I totally lost contact with him after he went on a super awesome bike touring adventure. I probably shouldn't have a favorite, but he was just that kickass.)

But there's also Spaceship Ben. Spaceship Ben rode a recumbent, and he earned his nickname because he did, indeed, have an absolutely dazzling array of lights all over his bike, such that his bicycle looked like spacecraft.

He added all of the lights to his ensemble because he, too, got rear-ended, although in his case the driver was going 40 mph and so his injuries were much more extreme.

There's also Dreadfullvegan, who had a hot pink ensemble so that, as he put it, no one could ever get away with saying that they didn't see him.

...

Anytime I am sitting in a meeting with people who are super-anxious about Covid-19 or worked up about humanity's inability to wear a damn mask correctly (if at all), my thoughts turn to the decisions I make every single day to get on my bicycle and ride somewhere. I wonder what the chances are of dying in a car crash compared to dying from Covid (this is NOT the same metric as the current leading cause of death).

Cars coming up behind me are putting me more on edge now than they were prior to my own rear-ending. I might pull out the rearview mirror and start using it again, even. I'm not sure.

But I do know one thing: people who don't ride bikes all the time do NOT have business trying to tell people who DO ride bikes all the time what they should or shouldn't be doing for safety, unless they are somehow otherwise an expert on transportation safety or associated public health issues.

Also, I was in the local newspaper again yesterday, this time about bicycling, thankfully with a very minor cameo role. Not sure if this version is paywalled.

https://www.timesunion.com/7dayarchive/article/Black-Girls-Do-Bike-encourages-Capital-Region-15462071.php#photo-19775468

Time to go wash cricket dishes.

Comments

[scrottie]

Was complimented on my lighting a while ago while riding on a closed-to-thru-traffic bike-ped street by a guy whose lighting was a bunch of mutli-colored flashing plastic swords sticking out of his backpack. I returned the compliment. That was shortly before the Monkey 'lectric light decided it was feeling much better now but of course he wouldn't know that the lighting bolt pattern was one of two it was currently doing. There are some vague thoughts there on (relative) safety in numbers, speed, street design, and getting people out of cars, none of which are news, but in a perfect world, a backpack full of flashing swords is pretty damn good lighting.

[rebeccmeister]

Okay, I could go with a backpack full of flashing swords. That's a lighting system I could totally get behind. I wonder where he got them.

Bike lighting is a fun hobby. :^)

[cmcmck]

Um no!

you rear end someone, you are as guilty as hell!

End of!

[annikusrex]

Not paywalled! Canny quote in your fairly Catholic region!

[rebeccmeister]

Hilarious, eh?

Weirdest interview ever. I don't think the reporter knew why she was calling me. She talked at me for a couple of paragraphs, then let me say a sentence or two. Then we ran out of time because I had another meeting I had to to attend and the reporter had called me 45 minutes late to begin with.

BUT - I was very pleased to see this article was on the front page of the paper, accompanied by a big photo. IDK how many people in the target demographic will see the article and have their curiosity piqued, but more than if the article didn't run, I suppose.

[thisnewday]

"...my thoughts turn to the decisions I make every single day to get on my bicycle and ride somewhere."

I always said that my wife was the gambler because she loved the casino. But then I'd get on the bike and do my 20-mile round-trip commute in rush hour traffic. And so, on further reflection, had to concede that she was only gambling with money, lol.

However, I always wore a helmet and always used a mirror. After trying several, I settled on the kind that sticks on the helmet. That way, regardless of which way you're steering, you can do a visual sweep of what's behind you.

Hope that won't be taken as another "mansplanation," lol...

[rebeccmeister]

At least in this case you are an experienced cyclist and are simply referring to what worked for you rather than prescribing for another person. Self-awareness goes a long ways! :^)

A friend of mine who toured from Phoenix to Washington, DC went through maybe 3-4 of the mirrors that stick to the helmet. My only concern with that style is that I would wind up having the same problem because of how my helmet gets knocked around when it's not on my head. Otherwise there are some great advantages, for sure!

[thisnewday]

Yes! Now that you mention it, I did have concerns--and eventually problems--with keeping the mirror adhered to the helmet. My solution was to replace the original two-sided tape with Gorilla brand tape from Home Depot. Haven't had a problem since, but frequency of use, weather conditions, a plethora of other factors, could certainly change that...

[rebeccmeister]

I could see how the Gorilla tape would be a great step up!

[thisnewday]

Well, like I said, I don't ride under the conditions I once did--or that you likely do now--so it would remain to be seen how well it would perform under those circumstances...