Reckless Bicyclists Take Heed

In light of the recent bicycling-related deaths of a fifty-six year old physician and a twenty-three year old film student, NYC's monthly quota of bike casualties has been met, and hands are once again being wrung over what can/should be done to improve the safety of the pedal-powered community. Local advocacy group Transportation Alternatives has scheduled a news conference at City Hall later this morning to agitate for improvements to road surfaces and the like.

Lost amidst the "right-of-way" rallying cries, postmortem encomiums, and far-fetched aspirations of transforming gritty NYC into a European-style bicycling nirvana (one of the planks of TA's manifesto?: a bike path within a half mile of every resident in the city) is the reality that the bicyclists themselves bear considerable responsibility for the fate that befell them. The doctor was riding late at night without a helmet, and the film student had reportedly bragged about the speed of his inter-borough commute, having bought a bike just three weeks prior, leading one to suspect a rather cavalier riding style coupled with inexperience, at least regarding the handling characteristics of his new equipment -- Houston St is not the place to get a feel for the brakes on that new Trek.

Needless to say, bravado (a quality with which New Yorkers are infamously well endowed) on a bike is hazardous to one's health. I have witnessed countless incidences of bicyclists behaving badly. Efforts to improve conditions for cycling in the city are worthy of our support and encouragement, but when accidents do happen, fault-finding is futile -- the bicyclist has already lost the battle with the bus/truck/taxi. With a bicycling population of 120,000, and assuming the twenty-four deaths in 2005 are typical, that translates to a .02% chance of becoming a statistic within any given year. Not bad odds, but there are quite a few ways in which New Yorkers could improve their chances.

• Wear a helmet (yes, you too, Ms. Beautiful Person swanning down Second Avenue after dark with nary a helmet in sight, its river of traffic swirling madly three feet to your left). Yes, they look silly, but so do MDs and other people who should know better splattered all over the pavement. The closest thing to très chic in helmets is the Limar 801. It's even Italian, like your handbag -- check it out.

• Stop on red (at least bicycle messengers are flouting traffic indicators and common sense for the purpose of scratching out a living -- there is no virtue in setting a land-speed record for your commute to the office).

• Take sensible precautions (avoid biking in slippery weather or low visibility -- e.g., 11:30pm, like our clinician -- and avoid busy thoroughfares to the extent possible). Transalt.org publishes highly detailed maps indicating preferred routes throughout the city. Study the damn thing like your life depends on it.

• Spend $20 on a light set and a rear view mirror (while you're swiveling your head 180 degrees to check for overtaking traffic, your bike has covered a considerable distance, in which there could easily be a car door or nasty rut just waiting to ruin your day). Are you willing to trust your life to peripheral vision?

• Leave your RIGHTeous indignation about deference to vehicles at home (all civic fantasies aside, New York is not the Provençal countryside, and never will be -- potholes and white-knuckle streets are what we must negotiate in order to get where we're going). Campaign for congestion pricing, but don't be a martyr to the cause. When it's you and a 14,000 pound truck, right-of-way cedes to might-makes-right.

• Oh, and cross your fingers ... after all, you're at the mercy of the reflexes and good graces of thousands of anonymous drivers every time you get in the saddle. Bike defensively.