Bike Safety
Oh cycling! Originally uploaded by linda.foots.
Jill noted that two cyclists were killed in NYC over the weekend, and pleaded with people to wear helmets, while noting that helmet or not, it's not the cyclist's fault if some drunk driver can't see them or respond in time not to hit them.
Granted as a driver, pedestrian, or cyclist, you can't do anything to keep dangerous people off the road. Here are some things you really should do, as a cyclist, to help drivers not hit you:
Wear your gorram helmet.
Head-smashed-in is a lousy fashion statement. A properly fitted helmet doesn't just protect your head -- it also protects your neck and spine from trauma should you land hard the wrong way.
Replace your helmet annually, or after you drop it. Every time something bangs your helmet, it loses integrity. A thin plastic shell full of mostly-dead foam will do little to protect your head when it hits the ground hard.
Your helmet won't work if it's dangling from your handlebars or hanging on a hook at home.
Make sure your helmet fits. Get it fitted at the bike store. It should sit squarely on your round head, neither tilted back nor forward, and not fall off or wobble when you shake your head vigorously.
Black is great for not being seen.
So accent your stylin' blacks with some reflective tape, m'kay? Seriously. I've followed cyclists wearing those reflective-taped cycling jackets, and I can see the jacket 25 metres ahead of me. Sure it makes you look like you have a day-glo target on your back. Deal. If a driver can see you way off in the distance, they can pay attention to not hitting you.
Flashing lights are not just for emergency vehicles.
For nighttime city riding, your front light won't illuminate anything on the road that the streetlamps don't do a better job of lighting up. Your bike lights allow other peope to see you. So you want them to be bright and obvious to drivers.
You want a flashy orange light on the front of your bike and at least one flashy red one on the back. The Highway Traffic Act actually prohibits flashy lights, so cyclists need to balance their law-abidingness against their common sense. My experience (which is not very scientific) is that flashy lights are easier to see on a bicycle, and indicate to drivers that the light coming at them is not from a car; I don't know of any cyclist who's ever been confused with an emergency vehicle, and I've never heard of anyone being pulled over for having the wrong style of light.
If you do a lot of off-road riding at night, or you ride in unlit places, then you might want to invest in a second light for up front-one with a steady, strong beam that you can direct at the ground.
They can't hear you yelling. Get a bell.
Or an airhorn. Have it attached to your bike in a way that makes it easy for you to let drivers know that you're by-gum taking your right of way, that they're encroaching on your space, that you're turning right, whatever. They can't hear you call them brain-dead exhaust-spewing scions of an entitled eighties mentality, so you want to send them a message that they have a better chance at hearing.
According the the Highway Traffic Act, all vehicles must be equipped with a bell, a horn, or a gong. Since striking a gong would probably require you to carry a gong stick, you might wish to confine your choices to the more conventional bell or horn.
Know your place. You can't always insist on it, but you should know it.
City cycling would be much easier if everyone-cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists alike-understood the laws governing cyclists. If you're going to cycle in the city, you should be aware that in the eyes of the law, a bicycle is a vehicle, and belongs on the road. It is governed by the laws governing Volvos, minivans, and Hummers. There are a couple of exceptions to this: bicycles are permitted on bike paths, and cyclists may, at any time, dismount and walk their bikes on sidewalks or crosswalks. When they do this, they become pedestrians. Moreover, bikes are not permitted on 400-level highways, but I can't imagine wanting to cycle on one anyhow. Even when the Highway Traffic Act is stupid and seems irrelevant, it governs cyclists.
This means that cyclists need to learn how to ride in traffic, how to turn left from the left-hand turn lane and (in situations where there isn't a designated bike lane) at what other times the advice to keep to the right-hand side of the road doesn't apply:
The Vehicular Cyclist has a great deal to say about cyclists in traffic. He's a bit hard-line, and I don't practise everything he preaches: I tend to hug the right side of the road, for example, and I wouldn't consider riding two-abreast in traffic. Still, the man knows his Highway Traffic Act, and he's given considerable thought to the problem of riding in traffic, so it's worth reading what he has to say.
In general, I stop cycling when the snow starts to stick. As the snowplows pile snow on the sides of the roads, the roads become narrower, bike lanes become snowbanks, and cyclists have less room to maneuver. The "OMG I'm going to die" feeling outweighs the pleasure and freedom of cycling, and I give up and put my bike in storage until the bike lanes emerge again. I can take transit for a couple of months.
When it's not snowing, I cycle in most weather. I keep my bike tuned up, and keep my brakes in good order. Roughly half of my cycling is on designated bike paths; the balance is on roads among the other traffic. I stop at stop signs and lights, use hand signals, give pedestrians the right of way, swear like a stevedore at drivers who crowd me, and turn left from the left-turn lane. I've been hit exactly once, when I was stopped at a yellow light, on the right-hand side of a quiet, residential street. Driver wasn't looking in front of him as he pulled into the right hand lane, intending to turn right on the red (legal in Ontario), and he bumped into the rear of my bike, totalling my back wheel and sending me flying a** over teakettle. I suffered a couple of remarkable bruises on my nether regions and a missed chemistry exam. Driver paid to replace my wheel, and the police told me that unless I was injured it wouldn't make sense to press charges.
If cyclists are to function effectively in cities, drivers need to be aware that cars are not the only vehicles on the roads, and that bicyclists, unicyclists, pedicab operators, and moped-drivers function under the same laws and rules as drivers, unlike the driver who hurled imprecations at me because he was stuck behind me in a left-turn lane, and insisted that I needed to be on the sidewalk. Cyclists need to know the laws that govern them and uphold them. They need to make it nigh-impossible for drivers to claim that they didn't see the cyclists or that the cyclist's intentions or actions were obscure. Of course a bike-friendly city would help. Useful bike paths and enforced bike lanes would help. Police who understand the Highway Traffic Act would help. Strong penalties for drivers who don't "share the road" would help a lot more than signs instructing drivers to do so. And, as the folks at Feministe mention, bike paths that are inaccessible to cars, no matter how drunk the drivers, would certainly be a good idea.
It's getting dark early. Go safely, and look out for idiots.