Bicycling is only healthy when you ride safely

It's clear that bicycling is good for the environment...when it takes vehicles off the road. It's also clear that bicycling is good for your health...when you practice safety.

May is National Bike Safety Month. As this Administration works to develop environmentally-sound transportation options, making our streets more bike-friendly is high on the list. Our roads and communities must be built to allow people to get around safely outside of their cars, on bike or on foot.

But, as more people take to bicycling, that idea can only be sound when drivers and cyclists help each other share the roads safely.

 

Motorists should:

• Recognize that bicyclists have a right to ride on the roadway;
• Stay alert and keep distractions to a minimum;
• Make a complete visual check for bicyclists before entering or leaving a lane of traffic.

But, bicyclists have an obligation as well. They should:

• Ride on the roadway, rather than on sidewalks;
• Follow the same rules of the road as other vehicles;
• Wear a bicycle helmet every time you ride;
• Make yourself visible, day and night.

Please take the time to visit the content-rich Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center and the National Center for Safe Routes to School. Best practices for bicycle safety can also be found on the League of American Bicyclists and Bicycle Safe sites. The International Bicycle Fund has a great list of bike safety resources.

We all know about "defensive driving." But, bicyclists are vulnerable and exposed in a way that motorists simply are not. While we are working to improve conditions for bicyclists on the roadways, let's, please, remember the culture we've created over the last 100 years will not welcome bikes overnight. In the meantime, during National Bike Safety Month and throughout the year, I urge you to "bike defensively."

Comments

[Sybil]

Thanks for the reminder!

OT but hilarious - G Will evidently had "issue" with Sec LaHood's suggestion for more of us to ride our bikes to work.

G Will thinks asking 0.01% of American to ride to work is just asking too much. Little does he know, as he forgot to do his research and fact-check his outrage, that the 2005 Census showed that 0.4% were riding their bikes to work!

Good job Secretary LaHood! You lead ... we'll follow!

[Casey]

Thank you for acknowledging the bicycle as a viable means of transportation. It is gone unnoticed by many for far too long.

I would like too add one caveat-

You state that bicyclist have an obligation to ride in the roadway and not on the sidewalk. This statement is true in the context of bicycles as transportation, because they are moving too fast for the sidewalk to accommodate them. However, bikes are often ridden for recreation and riding in a busy roadway detracts from the enjoyment level. Also, in many communities the roadway do not meet the safety needs to accommodate bicycles. Regardless of whether a bike is ridden on the road or a sidewalk, the rider does have an obligation to operate in a safe and respectful manner.

The bicycle is in a class of its own between pedestrian and automobile, yet they are expected to use the infrastructure designed for the other modes. This ambiguity in distinction is why conflicts arise between cyclists, drivers and pedestrians. It also justifies the needs for more planning and implementation of cycling specific infrastructure, which will help bikes gain the distinction they deserve as a viable means of transportation

[Richard Campbell]

It is really not surprising that so few people cycle given the total lack of good infrastructure in most cities. Don't forget that for the most of last century, we made what will likely be the largest transportation investment ever in human history making it really easy to drive while investing practically nothing in alternatives. One hundred years ago, driving was very difficult, it took around 100 days to "drive" across the US. "Drive" because it involved pushing cars through mud and taking rafts and boats over rivers.

People will do what it is easy for them to do. That is why they drive. Once we invest in cycling and make it safe and easy for people to cycle, many will chose to cycle instead of driving. It is time that people have real transportation choice and freedom rather than being forced to drive.

[jim stack daily bicycle commuter]

in my area DOT blocks lanes for bicycles and makes any work area unsafe. When I complained they did nothing. The biggest hazard is their poor signs, blocked lanes and junk in the roads.
DOT is only about big vehicles. They ignore bicycles !

[Total Transformation Program]

I totally agree. I have been cycling a lot this summer and it's easy to do something dangerous and stupid just to save some time, skip a red light, etc. Then I look back and think, "If I got hurt I'd really regret it".

[Will Wattles]

I applaud Sec. Lahood's encouragement of cycling. In marked contrast to his predecessor he seems to appreciate the cycling is a viable form of transport. I cycle daily to work and do 90 percent of my errands by bike. I save money, stay in shape and minimize my impact on the environment. His suggestions about obeying the law and being visible are valuable.

[David Morse]

"It's clear that bicycling is good for the environment...when it takes VEHICLES off the road."

"Bicyclists should follow the same rules of the road as other VEHICLES".

So which is it? Are bicyclists drivers of vehicles? If so, how are they taking vehicles off the road? Perhaps you meant they take MOTOR VEHICLES off the road. Sorry for being a stickler on this point, but until we start using the right vocabulary, we will subconsciously continue to marginalize this form of transportation.

In all 50 states the law says that bicyclists are DRIVERS of VEHICLES.

"Please, remember the culture we've created over the last 100 years will not welcome bikes overnight"

Good thing we're not asking for an overnight change. Bicycles were first recognised as vehicles back in '96. 1896, that is. Bicycles have been part of that culture the whole time. Yes, Joe Sixpack forgot how to ride on roads during his "love affair with the automobile". But one fundamental advantage we have in this country is a set of laws that recognise bicycles as vehicles, with the same rights and responsibilities as other vehicles.

Riding on the same roads and lanes as other vehicles is often thought to be unsafe. Generally the people making these snap judgements have had significant driver's education, but not equivalent bicycle driver's education. The League of American Bicyclists has a national education program that will allow a cyclist to use any road safely.
http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/education/
Taking these classes is the best single step an individual can take towards improving their bicycling safety.

[Richard Swent]

Nice statement from the Secretary. Now he should change the name of his blog to "Welcome to the Bike Lane".

[khal spencer]

Right on, Sec. LaHood.

I would add to your advice to cyclists this caveat: take cycling seriously. Learn some cycling skills, practice situational awareness, and as the old driver's ed saying goes, "leave yourself an out". The person who has the most ability to ensure one's safety is the person staring back at you in the mirror.

As far as that "Change" word? The U.S. is like a supertanker: it takes a lot of time to turn the ship, but eventually we will turn the ship. We have no choice: the era of cheap oil is over and we need to creatively work our infrastructure around more energy-efficient (and fiscally responsible) means of transportation.

Just one small quibble. Please instruct your funding agencies to ensure that state DoT's receiving Federal funds are bicycle-friendly. In New Mexico, shoulder paving in our vast rural stretches needs serious improvement, and state roads traveling through urban areas often resemble designs from the nineteen fifties.

Down here where the money hits the road, multimodal needs to be more than a good word.

Thank you,
Khal Spencer

[Inflatable Hot Tubs]

As a resident of Chicago I am a frequent bike rider and the city istself is full of bike riders. We have a considerable number of biking accidents here in the city and it is unfortunate that most of these could be easily avoided if both motorists and bicyclists both followed some general guidlines. Great article and great advice.

Katie

[Barry Korman]

check out my blog - retro reflective - make bike riding at night in the dark safer.
Barry

[Alex Fernan]

Few months ago we had a terrible accident were a biker was killed by a drunk driver :(