To Improve America’s Bike Culture, Lead by Example

Guest editorial by Andrew Fichter

 

As a cyclist, it is easy to be proud of the choice to ride a bike, but it isn’t always as appealing to be an advocate for safe and responsible riding. Instilling an equal level of pride for responsible behavior could help to make cycling an increasingly accepted mode of transport, while enhancing the perception of cyclists held by those who share the roads and intersections with cyclists.

 

I've been an avid bicycle commuter for about seven years. Throughout that time, I have gradually transformed my approach to cycling. At the onset of my bike commuting days, I would regularly make questionable decisions that directly impacted my safety. I would ride while wearing headphones or I would travel the wrong way down one-way streets. I didn’t do these things wth a chip on my shoulder or to prove a point. I did them primarily out of convenience. It was the preferable approach to meet my immediate needs: get from point A to point B efficiently, while enjoying the process as much as possible.

 

Throughout my years of cycling, I became increasingly comfortable and confident navigating challenging traffic conditions within urban environments. This was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it was completely liberating and thrilling. I looked forward to the fun of meandering crowded city streets on my bike every day. On the other hand, as my comfort zone expanded and my confidence grew, it became easier to make aggressive and safety-compromising decisions in the heat of the moment — all in the name of efficiency and convenience.

 

There’s no denying the tension that exists on the road between bikes & cars, bikes & pedestrians, and cars & pedestrians. It is dangerously easy to create a potentially fatal outcome if this tension gets the best of us, or if competing elements are underestimated. Regardless of our mode of transport on any given day, the most important question of all seems to fall by the wayside when making emotional decisions: Is it worth the risk?

 

The Accident

On the morning of October 20, 2015, I personally became an example of the disastrous outcomes that a split-second decision can make. I was enjoying a beautiful fall morning on my routine commute to work. As I approached a green light at the base of a hill, an oncoming car drifted into the intersection to turn left. I saw the car, and based on the the tentative approach being made, I thought the driver of the car saw me. 

 

Given my proximity to the center of the intersection, I had a maximum of two seconds to make a decision: proceed or stop. Given that I had right-of-way coming straight, and my instant deduction that the driver saw me, I made the snap judgement to proceed. As soon as I made this decision, I came to the harsh realization that the car did not see me (or simply did not care that I was there). The driver proceeded as if I didn’t exist.

 

I quickly swerved out of the way, slamming on my brakes and flying headfirst over my handlebars. Miraculously, I avoided any contact with the car. The last thought I had before flying off my bike and through the air was “I’m getting hit”.

 

I broke my fall with both arms, fracturing my left elbow and right wrist in the process. The car proceeded to drive away, leaving my bike and I laying in the middle of a busy intersection at rush hour. 

 

There’s no question that I had right-of-way, that the driver of the car was in the wrong, and that some people (the driver of the car being one of them) are awful. None of these things are really the focus of what I’m writing about today, though. The accident itself left me to re-evaluate decisions I made not only on October 20th, but on many days leading up to it.

 

The Selfish Nature of Being In Motion

Cyclists possess a potentially dangerous combination of speed and reduced mass. We can move relatively fast while taking up very little space. At the same time, having to build momentum from a hard stop vastly reduces the efficiency of cycling. Taking into consideration speed, reduced mass, and strong preference to keep moving, it is easy to fathom situations where cyclists can take aggressive risks while overestimating the impaired visibility that our reduced mass imposes on those within immediate proximity.

 

This is exactly the sort of risk I took on the morning of October 20th. While I was not in the wrong on the day of my accident, I’m willing to admit that I’ve used the factors mentioned above to the detriment of those around me many times before. A constant in making these risky decisions was always an underlying assumption that anyone who needed to see me, should and did see me.

 

If a car was pulling out of a parallel spot into the bike lane, I assumed the driver would see me and wait. If a pedestrian was attempting to cross the street in front of me, I would assume they saw me coming and would wait. I had many close calls as a result of my decision to keep moving and the assumption that others always knew I was there. I routinely made decisions that sacrificed my safety (and the safety of those around me) in the name of sustained movement.

 

This desire to keep moving and to arrive at a destination as quickly as possible is not unique to cyclists. This is an inherent trait of anyone in transit. If you don’t believe me, try standing on the left side of any escalator in the DC metro area during rush hour. As cyclists, though, the risks borne of a desire to keep moving can be disproportionally consequential. In the competition between a bike and a car, I don’t like the bike’s odds.

 

Pre-Meditate Safe Behavior

As conditions for cyclists in urban areas (especially in DC) continue to improve, there is still a ton of progress to be made. In the mean time, there is ample of opportunity for cyclists to embrace an increased awareness of the insufficient conditions we are presented with - and to do our part to make the transition to a safer culture smoother for everyone.

 

It starts with pre-meditating safe and conservative behavior before even setting feet on the pedals - each and every time. For me, this was a struggle more often than not. There were countless days that I arrived at my destination frustrated for making a questionable decision or potentially putting myself and others in harm’s way. This frustration would transition with me into the other tasks and activities of my day. That’s no way to live, is it? 

 

It’s easy to allow the selfish nature of being in motion to take hold, and it can be compounded by the lack of respect we, as cyclists, receive while sharing the road with drivers and pedestrians. There were many occasions where I felt a chip on my shoulder as a result of this lack of respect. This leads to rash and aggressive decisions that, at the end of the day, only put myself in more danger.

 

Over time, I became better at taking a few moments to transition into a safe and unselfish state of mind before hopping on the bike. On days I was able to do this, I found my cycling experience to be consistently positive and enjoyable. On days I struggled, I found the complete opposite.

 

Look To Other Cultures

Ever since learning of Copenhagen's ubiquitous bicycle culture through the documentary Urbanized, I was obsessed with visiting the city. In 2012, I made the trip.

 

In Copenhagen, half of the population commutes via bicycle, and there are more bikes than people (source: denmark.dk). To make the most of my experience, I did what any logical tourist would do: spend a significant amount of my time there exploring the city on a bike. As I gained first-hand experience with life on a bike in Denmark, it was easy to see some of the vast contrasts with cycling culture in the United States.

 

By nature of the sheer number of people riding bikes through the city, the etiquette and behavior is much more formalized. Other cyclists consistently signal, and the ebb and flow of bike traffic is almost an afterthought. 

 

Our culture could learn a thing or two from this. We are always so pressed to get to our next location and task, that our safety takes a back seat to speed and efficiency. Biking works so well in Copenhagen because of the density and mutual respect cyclists have for those sharing space with them. As both a cyclist and a pedestrian in DC, I witness examples each and every day where mutual respect falls by the wayside. I am no exception to this myself. We can all improve with a little more pre-meditated behaviors and a more humbled mentality to being on a bike to begin with.

 

Final Thoughts

Lots of progress still needs to be made in DC (and the United States in general), to build safe bicycling infrastructure and further ingrain cycling into our culture. There is no doubt that a paradigm shift in public perception is needed to enable more widespread understanding and expectations regarding the existence of bikes and shared public space. With this macro cultural shift will come a micro shift within the cycling community, as cyclists adjust to sharing spaces with more users. In the mean time, individual cyclists can view the current state of affairs as a mandate to help change this perception through taking pride in not just being on a bike, but in being as safe and considerate as possible. A widespread mentality of safe biking habits will further unite the cycling community, while slowly helping to change the perception of those we share space with. Everyone will benefit. 

Comments

[h_lina_k]

I am glad this was written and wish more cyclists began thinking along these lines.

[Crickey7]

My two cents, I tune out whenever someone starts rhapsodizing about the Netherlands or Copenhagen. We are not they. They are not we. We need to find our own answers from our own situation.

[Greg (not Billing)]

Pretty well written, but I call baloney on the Copenhagen observation. People seeming friendlier or more respectful on bikes in Copenhagen isn't why cycling works so well there. Rather it's a result of investing in proper bicycle infrastructure that encourages people to ride. Period. The niceties of people using signals and such comes naturally from high mode share.

Build proper infrastructure here and people will do the same. Encouraging people to be more respectful of their space is certainly helpful, but will do next to nothing to get people on bikes if they're still scared of dying.

[Roo_Beav]

I'm not sure I was able to pick the message out from among this tidal wave of words. Was it "take a chill pill & bike defensively"?

[Smedley Burkhart]

I don't think it's well written (e.g., "...leaving my bike and I laying..."), but that's hardly the point.

Others have it right, above. To wit, the culture here and in (wonderful) Copenhagen is overwhelmingly determined by the relative numbers of people who drive and cycle. I don't see anything else being more than a trivial factor. When cycling is a marginal and risky activity of a small minority of risk takers, the populations behave accordingly. When our grandmothers are out there they'll get and give a lot more respect than we do.

Further, the piece confuses safety, respect, and appearances. For example, it is perfectly safe and legs, but not necessary, for me to weave to the front of a line of cars stopped at an intersection. However, it gives the appearance of squirreliness and pisses drivers off. That's why I tend not to do it (if I'm in a benign mood) because I think it leads to greater peace on the roads. On the other hand, when I claim a lane, as I do twice a day, out of common sense and bitter experience, it unavoidably pisses the hell out of some motorists and makes them want to kill me and the next bike geek they see.

[Biker Girl]

This is an important conversation that doesn't get enough attention. I didn't feel the point of this article was to compare us to the Netherlands, or say we should be them. Instead, I felt the author was trying to point us in the direction of the individual's responsibility (whether on 2 wheels or 4) to model safe behavior and practices when on the road.

I agree that infrastructure plays a huge role in ensuring more people will ride bikes in cities. However, I also hear there is a need to address perceptions of safety. For example, even with protected bike lanes, many riders still feel unsafe or uncomfortable biking. There needs to be more education and awareness within and outside of the biking community, so that people feel empowered to ride safely.

Obviously, this is one individual's story, but the main point shouldn't be ignored. By not addressing bike safety at the individual level, the biking community will only drive away the grandmothers and individuals they want on their team.

[Andrew (Author of this post)]

@Biker Girl: You hit the nail on the head. My goal with this article was to get people thinking about the things they can control. To wit, their behavior. I thought that sharing my experience might help make this thought process relatable. And as I said myself, I'm not perfect and still lose patience myself.

There are multiple factors that go into creating a safe cycling culture. Many of them are beyond the control of individuals, but it will only help (certainly won't harm) for individuals to improve in areas that they can.

Will it have sweeping changes? Maybe not. But you might avoid an accident. I know I had many close calls before ultimately getting hurt, regardless of who's fault it was.

Nothing is universal - of course there are going to be situations where you have to claim your space, and it's going to piss some people off. That's where the macro cultural shifts need to occur.Is the cultural shift a precursor to better bike infrastructure, or is it a result of better bike infrastructure? That is the struggle.

Being more mindful of individual safety can literally save your life, and it might have some nice side effects in the process. Which is the main point I was trying to drive home.

[Smedley Burkhart]

"Nothing is universal - of course there are going to be situations where you have to claim your space, and it's going to piss some people off. That's where the macro cultural shifts need to occur.Is the cultural shift a precursor to better bike infrastructure, or is it a result of better bike infrastructure? That is the struggle."

I agree completely on this issue of behavior, but the perception of behavior is shaped by the culture and, I maintain, culture is more sensitive to things like the prevalence of cycling than the fact that you or I behave ourselves in traffic.

I think infrastructure is ahead of culture, but maybe that's just the view of someone who doesn't enjoy bike paths.

[Steve O]

More people on more bikes. That is the only way to change the culture.

And the only way to do that is to make those people who do not ride bikes now feel safe and comfortable doing so.

And the only way to do that is to change the physical infrastructure in ways that make it safe and comfortable for our children and our grandmothers.

Denmark and the US were not that much different in 1970. The reason Copenhagen is so different now is because of how they invested in their transportation network. Their culture is an outgrowth of those societal decisions.