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No, the reason is because pretty much everyone else in the world has the sense to realise that bicyclists are pedestrians. They don't belong in the road any more than joggers or skateboarders.

I suggest you look again at Copenhagen.

Regardless -- the numbers show that vehicular cycling is safe -- and that in the US, riding on the sidewalk dramatically increases the chances of a car/bicycle collision (as drivers don't look for fast-moving vehicles on the sidewalk when pulling in and out of driveways). The League of American Bicyclists tracks statistics and offers classes (which leverage these statistics) on driving one's bicycle in a predictable, courteous, and safe manner; the accident rate for League members is on the same order of magnitude of that of motor vehicles when measured per mile traveled, but far lower when measured by other criteria.

Regardless, while the accident rate per mile is somewhat higher, the accident rate per hour spent traveling is dramatically lower for cyclists. This is critical, as the curve for peoples' commute time tends to be fairly constant regardless of vehicle -- people who use a faster mode of transport arrange their lives such that they live closer to work. As such, for a person who makes their decision to use a bicycle as a long-term lifestyle choice (and is thus eventually able to take such into account when selecting either their employer or their living space), the chance of being harmed during one's commute is actually much lower.

You might find Ken Kifer's analysis useful; the statistical arguments made are compelling. (Ken passed away some time ago, killed by a drunk driver; for anyone interested in making a point of this, I suggest comparing the frequency of this event to the rate of 3rd-party deaths caused by drunk cyclists).

I've been doing it for more than 2 years now, every day. Quite alive and well, thanks. The myth about cycling in the city being dangerous is just plain crap. See what Ken Kifer has to say about cycling safety and statistics.

I've been doing it for more than 2 years now, every day. Quite alive and well, thanks. The myth about cycling in the city being dangerous is just plain crap. See what Ken Kifer has to say about cycling safety and statistics.

There are some areas where cars make biking unsafe, but overall biking is far safer than driving. There's a decent (but not perfect) analysis here. If you were hit that often, I must assume that either you have poor driving skills or you live in a particularly nasty area.

If cyclists are a visible part of the community, then the problems mostly disappear. If you're the lone cyclist, well, groups of humans seldom need a reason to bully anyone different from the group. It's truly a pity that the majority wins so often.

They require more time

Maybe. Over long distances of open highway during non-rush-hour, absolutely. Around town, false. In city, at distances under 5 miles or so, I'm usually faster than a car. Some of that is that a car might not be able to park very close to the destination...

require your wmployer have a place to change

Does your employer not provide a restroom?

require you don't need to carry much

Of course--but you should define "much". Panniers carry what I need most of the time, and some people use trailers for the really big stuff.

are more dangerous*

Completely, absolutely wrong. Or check the numbers yourself, but making claims that go against the evidence just makes you look like an idiot.

can't pick up very many people

Have you ever counted how many trips see no more than one person in the car? So use a car for the 10% of trips in which you need to pick up someone who doesn't have his own transportation. Would you like to drive and park on roads with 10% of the traffic that you see now?

can't get groceries

Bullshit. Where do you get these half-baked ideas? 95% of my grocery runs are by bike, to a store about 5 miles away. The only reason I tend to take longer than I do when driving is that I take a scenic route because biking is fun.

impracticable in an emergency

Can you be any more specific? Also, please take into account the fact that the more people bike instead of driving, the fewer emergencies there are.

require good health.

They also create it, in a bunch of ways, while cars destroy it both passively (no exercise) and actively (pollution, stress, accidents). How is this a problem? Also, as I noted, the Bay Area is largely flat, and therefore biking does not require especially good health after all.

Just how fat are you, anyway??

Welcome! 4 miles might be the perfect introduction to bike commuting, if you find a route that you enjoy.

I don't know the area (luckily, Flying Scotsman does), but for your general questions, you can't do much better than Ken Kifer's pages on Bike Commuting.

Gear? A Huffy will be nothing but frustrating. A decent bike bought in a good bike shop, properly sized, will be easy to maintain and ride. Fenders are very worthwhile, and a good rack and panniers are to die for: if you have the cash, I highly recommend Ortlieb (try REI), for their tough waterproof fabric and nigh-perfect attachment mechanism. Ken Kifer has far more information on everything else you could conceivably want. I would also chime in that I'm far more comfortable biking in bike clothes (not cotton! I love SmartWool) and changing when I arrive at work. Bike shorts in grocery stores only garner strange looks amongst the proletariat :)

Safety? Be visible, get your friends out on their bikes, raise awareness. Strangely, helmets seem not to do any good, but skills do! Obey traffic laws (while certain exceptions are reasonable, most are not, and creating a bike-friendly environment means pretending to respect cars ;) Gently assert your rights, don't yield to a car when you have right of way unless doing so is likely to result in a collision (and then call the police), but don't take right of way when it's not yours to take. Basically, be traffic.

There's a little bit more on my own page.

Welcome! 4 miles might be the perfect introduction to bike commuting, if you find a route that you enjoy.

I don't know the area (luckily, Flying Scotsman does), but for your general questions, you can't do much better than Ken Kifer's pages on Bike Commuting.

Gear? A Huffy will be nothing but frustrating. A decent bike bought in a good bike shop, properly sized, will be easy to maintain and ride. Fenders are very worthwhile, and a good rack and panniers are to die for: if you have the cash, I highly recommend Ortlieb (try REI), for their tough waterproof fabric and nigh-perfect attachment mechanism. Ken Kifer has far more information on everything else you could conceivably want. I would also chime in that I'm far more comfortable biking in bike clothes (not cotton! I love SmartWool) and changing when I arrive at work. Bike shorts in grocery stores only garner strange looks amongst the proletariat :)

Safety? Be visible, get your friends out on their bikes, raise awareness. Strangely, helmets seem not to do any good, but skills do! Obey traffic laws (while certain exceptions are reasonable, most are not, and creating a bike-friendly environment means pretending to respect cars ;) Gently assert your rights, don't yield to a car when you have right of way unless doing so is likely to result in a collision (and then call the police), but don't take right of way when it's not yours to take. Basically, be traffic.

There's a little bit more on my own page.

I suggest you read this website:
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/index.htm
(ironically he was killed by a drunk driver, so perhaps his approach isn't perfect)

I get the feeling from your post that you've never seriously ridden a bike for commuting. After reading that site and trying it out for a few years I've found that what he says is pretty much the truth for cycling. If you can identify issues with the vehicular driving article, please do flag them as NPOV!

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

Here are some stats for you.

Executive summary: You're wrong.

But read it for yourself. It's very in depth.

A good helmet and knee/elbow guards.

Also, check out this site:

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/laptop.h tm
It's entitled "Bicycle Touring with a Solar Laptop".

I want to balance all these bicycle accidents with the fact that bicycling is comparable to walking in safety.

Bicycle safety

Is Cycling Dangerous?

Unfortunately the panel that Ken Kifer used isn't available anymore, but his page might be of use to you in putting together a system.

Check out Ken Kifer's account of bicycle touring with a solar powered laptop.

He has some relavent and informative links in the right panel as well.

Check out Ken Kifer's account of bicycle touring with a solar powered laptop.

He has some relavent and informative links in the right panel as well.

How much do you pay for mortages, fuel, insurance, parking, repairs etc for your car? (sometimes also including obesity-related medical expenses) What will that be per kilometer? ... for your trip to work? How large are your hourly wages? Then, how many minutes of your work is actually used for your car commute?

To paraphrase ... "drive to work, work to drive" ...

In this regard, a bike or bike/public transport combo can in many cases have a superior speed, even during uncongested conditions.

References: Auto Costs Versus Bike Costs

Check out Ken Kifer's bicycle touring experience with a solar powered laptop.

-biff

Check out Ken Kifer's bicycle touring experience with a solar powered laptop.

-biff

These have been used for bike touring for some time. Ken Kifer on this. Regrettably Ken was recently hit by a vehicle and died.

Subjectively I think I am more likely to be involved in a collision with a car when I'm on my bike then when I'm driving. And I'm pretty sure I'm more likely to be seriously damaged when on the bike.

Statistics are notoriously suspect, but the best estimate is that the average everyday bicycle rider has a 1 in 133 chance of dying while riding a bike, while the lifetime risk of dying in a motor vehicle is about 1 in 70 (source: www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm).

70 percent of American adults who don't get enough regular exercise, 300,000 of whom die every year from diseases related to a sedentary lifestyle, according to a 2002 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report.

jason0000042 wrote:

So lack of bike routes, combined with the fact that most people live too far away from their jobs to make biking practicable (again a subjective observation based on experience in DC, Baltimore and Memphis), means that you won't be seeing a massive shift to bikes any time soon.

Note: the reason bikes *plus* bus/trains are such a killer combination is that the usual bane of mass transit is the downtime needed for doing transfers. A bus/train/bus commute would be unliveable, but I found a bike/train/bike commute to be totally doable, especially considering that I got exercise and reading time out of the deal.

Have a look at "Bycicle touring with a solar laptop" - geeky enough?