Carbon Trace

Local freelance columnist Roger Ray thinks bicycling in Springfield is not safe. In an otherwise good column about transportation issues in the News-Leader, he adds what he apparently believes is common-sense truth:

Walking is not much of an option in such a spread out community as ours is and biking is rarely practical. Springfield is not bicycle friendly, and putting signs up along streets saying that it is a bicycle route hardly changes the fact that it is not at all safe to ride on those streets.

Bicycling can be very dangerous if one fails to follow the rules of the road. But one merely has to sample the “safety” links on the Carbon Trace sidebar to discover, among other things, that bicycling is safer per hour than driving. If you want to be afraid of something, be afraid of riding in a car. You could be one of the 40,000 people killed this year on America’s roads.

Here’s a good place to start learning the facts. And here.

Here is the “per hour” data (source):

I left this comment on the column: “Get the facts about bicycling in Springfield (instead of uninformed opinion): http://isocrates.us/bike/.”

Ray replied: “My 40 years of being an avid cyclist makes my opinion “uninformed.” Curious, just exactly what does it take to be informed in your world? Perhaps one simply has to agree with you?”

I’m not sure what 40 years of experience has taught Ray. I have him beat by 7 years. But that is as meaningless as his 40. Here’s what I do have that means something: I ride in traffic everyday in Springfield as basic transportation. And I have read extensively about bicycle safety because I am out there everyday (and want to come home alive). And I have taken the LAB Road One course. And I have thought about bicycle safety.

[UPDATE: Robert Johnson, of PedNet, knows a little something about bicycle safety. Read what he has to say about bicycle commuting in his latest column in the Columbia Daily Tribune.]

I am not going to claim that Springfield’s streets are safe. Safety does not inhere in the street itself. A street’s design may be particularly safe or unsafe for particular users in particular circumstances. It is, instead, always the responsibility of the bicyclist to understand the rules of the road, the condition of the road, and the character of traffic. Safety inheres in the individual bicyclist who takes, or fails to take, responsibility for his/her own safety.

To say that “it is not at all safe to ride on those streets” is, simply, uninformed opinion as I said in my comment. It has nothing to do with agreement or disagreement. And I certainly understand that many people believe it is unsafe to ride a bicycle in Springfield. Those streets will be dangerous for the uninformed and the lawbreaker. Those streets are very safe for someone such as me because I accept the responsibility to ride in an informed and law-abiding manner.

Springfield does have a ways to go before I would call it “bicycle friendly.” But we’re getting there. Many good people are working hard to make it bicycle friendly. We’d appreciate Ray’s help. So, Dr. Ray, how about joining us on the Ozark Greensways Sustainable Transportation Committee. We could use a man with your talent and gravitas.

I could be killed today by a careless driver (or by my own careless mistake). The chances of that happening, however, are greatly increased if I’m driving or riding in a car.

One last note for Ray: You should also learn more about bicycling as a social justice / civil rights issue.

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle commuting, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle politics, bicycle safety, cycling