Anyone quit taking the metro and start bike commuting for safety reasons?

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

For me, being worried about safety while riding Metro might even be less rational than being afraid of flying. Not that it shouldn’t be a concern for the people running the joint.

I stopped using Metro for commutes because my commute is not subsidized in any way, and bike commuting saved me a TON of money per year – even after factoring in the purchase of a new bike and maintenance and other gear, we’re talking hundreds and then thousands of dollars a year. Plus I could bike from NOVA to work in DC faster than it took me to walk just to and from the metro – forget about waiting for and then riding the trains. No brainer.

[KLizotte]

This is the message I emailed to Sadie:

Hi, I now bike commute whenever possible even though I qualify for the federal government transit subsidy and both live and work on metro. Metro’s delays, unreliability and crowding make it a less convenient and viable choice as of late; with biking I know how long it is going to get to my destination +/- 2 minutes. That said, I appreciate the availability of metro for bad weather days. I do wish Metro would reduce the time window when bikes aren’t allowed on metro though because it would increase my transportation options (e.g., bike in the morning, take metro home when thunderstorms hit).

[baiskeli]

@rcannon100 139248 wrote:

Please cite any credible research and literature that supports said obvious proposition. Such literature should include data not only on riding public transportation but also traffic crashes caused by public transportation.

According to DOT, fatalities involving moving vehicles is in the order of 36,000 per year. That is not broken out for public transportation. Fatalities involving bicycles – you pretty much can count them on your hands.

You gotta go mile for mile though, not raw data.

[dplasters]

We have provided the true gift of the WABA forums, derailed threads.

[jrenaut]

The article came out today. It was pretty bad, all about how terribly unsafe bike commuting is. Next time she comes around asking for stuff from us, I recommend everyone ignoring her.

[Vicegrip]

@jrenaut 139497 wrote:

The article came out today. It was pretty bad, all about how terribly unsafe bike commuting is. Next time she comes around asking for stuff from us, I recommend everyone ignoring her.

On one hand she used a bit of subterfuge in her question to get reply’s and I for one will keep that in mind should she surface again. On the other hand she did include relatively balanced info in the risks and positive outcomes and weighted it in relation to DC and other US cities.
We need to keep in mind that not all commute in city centers, behind buses and between cabs. Many ride in clean air and still gain all the positive health with less of the negative ones.

@dplasters 139301 wrote:

We have provided the true gift of the WABA forums, derailed threads.

Truth be told we helped her write her story. What looked like a derail was playing right into her hand.

[ian74]

@jrenaut 139497 wrote:

The article came out today. It was pretty bad, all about how terribly unsafe bike commuting is. Next time she comes around asking for stuff from us, I recommend everyone ignoring her.

Oh, she won’t be back. She got what she wanted. That article is terrible, a shameless attention grabbing headline in the era of clickbaiting. For those who didn’t read it yet, the pro’s and con’s of cycling to work, here is a summary:

CONS: You’re going to be killed, most likely being hit by bus or car.
PROS: You’re probably going to be slightly healthier from all the cycling when you are killed, most likely being hit by bus or car. The odds of being killed, most likely being hit by bus or car, is slightly less in DC than elsewhere.

Fin

[lordofthemark]

@Vicegrip 139499 wrote:

Many ride in clean air and still gain all the positive health with less of the negative ones.

Actually riding just a few feet away from traffic significantly reduces exposure to air pollution (per a study from the NL) So riding on the MVT, say, provides a big improvement over riding in the general travel lanes behind someone’s tailpipe.

[lordofthemark]

@ian74 139500 wrote:

Oh, she won’t be back. She got what she wanted. That article is terrible, a shameless attention grabbing headline in the era of clickbaiting. For those who didn’t read it yet, the pro’s and con’s of cycling to work, here is a summary:

CONS: You’re going to be killed, most likely being hit by bus or car.
PROS: You’re probably going to be slightly healthier from all the cycling when you are killed, most likely being hit by bus or car. The odds of being killed, most likely being hit by bus or car, is slightly less in DC than elsewhere.

Fin

While I did not like the whole framing (biking is great, but so dangerous!) anyone who read the article and looked at the statistics and expert quotes, would likely find they undermine the frame – sure the table showed biking is more dangerous than driving a car, but it also showed driving a car is a LOT more dangerous than taking the bus – how many readers are foregoing their car and taking a bus purely for the safety benefit? And it did make clear that net net, you are going to live LONGER because you bike.

[MFC]

Link to a recent article indicating that the benefits of cycling and walking outweigh the risks of pollution. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/05/benefits-cycling-walking-outweigh-air-pollution-risk-cities

[huskerdont]

It’s the Express. The only thing it’s good for is the crossword, then to put under a bike while greasing. Every headline makes me grate my teeth, though this headline was better than many. I’m not going to read the article.

“…articles … were presented with headlines apparently written by an illiterate maniac.” G. K. Chesterton on American journalism, “The Strange Crime of John Boulnois”

[Tania]

@huskerdont 139508 wrote:

It’s the Express. The only thing it’s good for is the crossword, then to put under a bike while greasing

Truth. And the guy who hands them out at my metro stop is a bit of a jerk – he judges me for NOT taking one of his “newspapers.”

[Steve O]

@Tania 139509 wrote:

the guy who hands them out at my metro stop is a bit of a jerk – he judges me for NOT taking one of his “newspapers.”

Just flash him the Dostoevsky book you’re currently reading. He’ll understand.

[huskerdont]

@Tania 139509 wrote:

Truth. And the guy who hands them out at my metro stop is a bit of a jerk – he judges me for NOT taking one of his “newspapers.”

You have a guy? We have to open the box ourselves like a schmo. You must be in the ritzy part of town.

Come to think of it, that’s how I’d prefer it anyway.

[TwoWheelsDC]

She lost me with this:

As it turns out, bikes are the most dangerous way to get around with the exception of motorcycles.

Had she done some research, she’d have learned that an overwhelming proportion of motorcycle crashes involve alcohol, speeding, and overall reckless behavior. Otherwise, it’s not dramatically more dangerous than driving. Why not look at the car-centric policies and lack of driver training that make cycling unsafe? I guess that would take some actual journalistic effort….

[Author]

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