Transportation

Bicycles on Interstates Are Safer then City Streets

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🚴If we wanted to save lives of bicyclists, we would ban them from city streets and require that they only ride on Interstate Highway with their 12 foot shoulders and limited access points. Based on crash data it’s much safer to ride a bicycle on the shoulder of a limited access highway than a city street. Cyclist deaths on limited access highways are exceptionally rare in the many states that permit such riding. 🚴

🔢Too often though we let emotions and perception
of safety replace statistical evidence. 🔢

Bicycling Changes the Way You Look at a Map 🚵

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Most roads and maps are built for automobiles.

When driving, you usually want the most direct route, or at least the route with the least amount of traffic, the highest speed limit, and the fewest stoplights and stop signs. In other words, the fastest route or the one that gets you to your destination with the least amount of stress from traffic.

But on a bicycle, your priorities are different.

For one, bicycles are allowed on bike paths and to take shortcuts that are prohibited, frowned upon, or impossible to take in an automobile. It is often acceptable to cut through the woods on a bike or through a parking lot. This opens alternative routes. But more fundamentally, what bicyclists want to avoid — namely busy streets with motor vehicle traffic, especially those without shoulders and complicated intersections with traffic lights. Bicyclists often want to avoid steep hills, and will choose a longer route to avoid hills. The quiet suburban subdivision might be the preferred route for the bicyclist, even if some of the side streets are a less direct way to get from Point A to Point B.

Rediscovering my neighborhood and finding optimal bicycle routes is bringing me great joy compared to using a car.

Median Model Year of Automobiles in NY State

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Median Model Year of Automobiles in NY State

Automobiles in rural areas tend to be significantly older then urban areas, especially around New York City.

Data Source: NYS Department of Motor Vehicles, Registration File, Median Vehicle Year by Zip Code (All vehicles; this includes snowmobiles and ATVs).

Researching high-quality bicycle U-locks annoys me 🔏

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I am fully aware I need a good quality U-lock for my new bicycle, Blackie, especially if I do plan to ride downtown to work from time to time, but the idea of spending $50-100 and carrying around a heavy lock just to ensure that criminals with bolt cutters don’t run off with my bike really pisses me off, because I worked hard to afford that bicycle, and I shouldn’t have to spend a bunch more money to keep criminals from stealing what is rightfully mine.