Life is risky. Still, I get out of bed in the morning. How do we manage risk in our lives? I tend to be a chickenbleep and tend to minimize risk. My mother, of course, would tell you otherwise. After all, “you have to be crazy to ride…[in whatever conditions at the time the comment was made]” That is the way of the world. It can happen at any time and at any place. To some extent there is a randomness to risk. The safest rider in the world can meet up with a doofus in a BMW or another rider who is taking more risk and endangering others on the road. Still, the way we ride helps us manage that risk. The lead of the story pretty much tells us where its going:
Until his bike slid out of control while he was going 35 miles an hour downhill around a sharp turn, Dr. Harold Schwartz thought cycling accidents were something that happened to other people. Now, after recovering from a fractured pelvis, Dr. Schwartz, 65, the vice president for behavioral health at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, has changed his mind.
How often do you get to 35 mph? I think we can all agree that there is a greater chance that something can happen at that speed and when it does it may be bad. The more risk we take the more chance of bad stuff happening. Still, that is no guarantee of having an accident. Conversely, a chickenbleep rider like me who tends to ride cautiously has no guarantee of getting home in one piece. If we extrapolate over all the riders on this forum, or all the riders in the city we will see that managing risk helps minimize injury. That’s the best we can do. I doubt a bike is any more dangerous than a car. However, there is not as much protection on a bike. We all know that when we start to peddle.
If I get spooked and become too afraid to ride I will blow up to 400 lbs and die of a heart attack. I will have lived a miserable life and never got to enjoy the fun of riding a bicycle. I might as well ride. Its a better gamble.
I will pass traffic on the right when the cars are just sitting on Lincoln Ave. However, I have my eyes open and am not going full throttle. Balance.
If we ride with awareness most of us will avoid an accident. If we wear a helmet we are a bit more likely to be able to spell our name the day after an accident. Also, thanks to the Affordable Healthcare Act most of us will be able to obtain insurance to deal the cost of whatever may come our way.