Quote:
Originally Posted by RH77
I'm frankly terrified to ride my bike on public roads here....
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It isn`t a perfect world, RH. Believe it or not, noplace has perfect bike friendly routes, either. For the reasons you mention, it`s important to keep a close watch on everything, be aware of "traps" and potential hazards, and keep thinking about alternative routing and ways of doing things. A lot of that danger can be mitigated by following some obvious and not-so-obvious methods. In case you haven`t read it, here`s Ken Kifer`s excellent page on bicycle traffic saftey:
Bicycle Traffic Safety
It`s worth noting that the author of those pages was killed in a bicycle related traffic accident (hit by a drunk driver), which goes to show that no matter how safely we ride, we`re still taking a chance every time we leave our driveways. We all have to decide for ourselves whether it`s worth the risk or not.