Bike or Car: Which is Healthier:

I think biking should either be done in parks or on very quiet residential side streets where a car might go by every 10 minutes. Cars and bikes really don't mix. It is just dangerous. Even joggers on the side of the road underestimate the danger they run from cars. Do your jogging in a park or on a jogging track. Roads are for fast motorized traffic and parks are for jogging, biking, skateboarding, etc.

 

I live close enough to my place of work that I can bike to work faster than driving a car.

 

By your standard, I couldn't bike anywhere. I'd have to drive, with my bike, and then bike.

Ridiculous. Cars and bikes do fine on streets with 25 mph limits.

It's car drivers and bikes that don't mix. Specifically, drivers who think the sole purpose of the road is so that they can go as fast as possible.

 

Most state vehicle codes recognize bicycles as vehicles with the same rights and responsibilities as other vehicles. Many vehicle drivers are unaware of this. Many bicycle riders violate stop signs and lane controls. Proper street striping helps. Enforcement helps. Most automobile drivers have tunnel vision and tend to substitute oil for knowledge or safety. It's a dangerous mix and requires bicycle riders to be cautious.

 

The other day, one of my biking friends glided through
a stop sign. Ticket...$130. Official offense: did not put
at least one foot down at the stop sign.

While bicyclists *should* come to a full stop at a stop
sign (just like car drivers should as well), such stops
necessitate slowing down to an unstable speed, unclipping
from pedals, stop, then start up and again go through
the unstable speed regime, re-clip to pedals. There's
extra possibility of an accident or fall during those steps,
compared to just gliding through. Of course, a bicyclist
gliding through an intersection has increased risk of a
traffic accident, same as a car driver.

 

I disagree - there are plenty of situations where coming to a complete stop (whether on a bike or a car) does nothing but waste energy and does not increase safety at all.

 

clipped

 

We do need more cycling enforcement here, but that would also require that a certain unnamed city take down its nonconforming signs on the Burke-Gilman trail, which is now legally equivalent to a highway.

When doing 'rolling stops' on my normal pedaling routes, I'm at greater risk of getting hit from behind by other cyclists than hit on the side by a car. Full stops at signs in my direction frequently cause confusion and hand waving from many drivers that don't have stop signs, but still insist that I go first.

Of course, not every car stops when the stop sign is in their direction, not mine. Not even a police car from the above unnamed city. Maybe she was upset that their anti-trail ordinance was overturned by higher authority the previous day.

 

Don't put the recumbent away, Hill, just find nicer places to ride.

Does the law really define 'stopping' as putting your foot down? What if you're really talented and can balance in place until the light changes? How about if you just lean on a nearby post? What if you're on a low racer, and just put your hand down?


edit: Tell me more about these nonconforming signs in Seattle...

 

The fact that bikers breath more particles doesn't necessarily mean there is a worse health outcome. Most americans die of cardiovascular disease, and while a biker might have a higher rate of lung issues(presumed, but not proven), he or she will likely benefit from having a stronger CV system. This article is slanted and a more comprehensive study should be done to evaluate overall health pluses and minuses with bike commuting. In the mean time, someone could equally write an article next to this one with the headline "DRIVERS MORE LIKELY TO DIE OF HEART ATTACKS, STROKES, AND CANCER(fatter and inactive people tend get more cancers) than BIKERS."

Also, do these particles include when drivers breath the benzene at pump stations?

 

I know a couple of young teens that discovered this the hard way. They got nailed for running a stop sign on bicycles. When they later went to get drivers licenses they discovered that they already had moving violations, which prevented them from getting probationary licenses.

Tom

 

Oh, please. Your assumption is that bicycles are just for recreation? My bicycles are my primary form of transportation. I should only be riding around the block, or in circles at the local park? I ride about 10,000 miles a year. That's a lot of circles around my block! How do you suggest I get anywhere? Drive my huge car just to get my skinny butt across town? Bikes aren't the safety problem - the cars are. If we want the roads to be safer, let's remove the cars. There will be fewer injuries and deaths. Trust me on that one.

That's an easy one to fight unless there's something in your VC that specifically states putting a foot down. VERY easy to stop and not put your foot down. I do it about 100 times per day.

Which is why I do NOT agree that cyclist should always stop at intersections. It is often safer to keep going. I ride for safety first... law second.

Closer... it not only doesn't *increase* safety to not stop sometimes... stopping can often make the situation far more dangerous.

Or work toward getting gasoline cars off the road. It isn't *all* cars causing the pollution problem - just the fossil fuel ones. You know... like the Prius.

Depends on the vehicle code. But if this changes... then you'll have to open your car door and put your foot down each stop in your car too! It doesn't take "super duper" talen to track stand. Hell, even I can do it. I can stop and stand on the bike for an unlimited time.... or until I get bored.

 

They aren't in Seattle.

 

It's not the yield signs facing 'the wrong way' on the Burke-Gilman trail we're not talking about? (Nod your head for no, shake your head for yes)

The attitude that bikes are just toys is depressingly pervasive. Fortunately I live in a city that takes them seriously, and regularly closes roads to make more bike trails, despite the flack they get from motorists. (I see it as karmic retribution, because the first roads were built for cyclists, then taken over by cars.) Still, the percentage of transportation budget spent on cycling is far below the percentage of trips by bike. And yes, cyclists pay taxes that pay for roads.

Cycling benefits everyone, even those who don't ride but appreciate cleaner air.

 

Bicycles are toys in North America. If we took them seriously, we would have separate bike lanes as they do in Europe and China. I would ride a bike or an electric bike there, but not here.

 

To me?
This is just another one of those obvious "Scientific Studies" that illuminate what everyone should just know.

Tailpipe emissions are bad. Breathing tailpipe emissions can be bad for you. Do we really need a study to conclude that if you are in the open near traffic or congestion, exerting yourself either on a bicycle or jogging, or whatever, it will lead to you breathing harder and thus potentially breathing more of this pollution?

If you didn't already connect those dots you need to change coloring books.

This is simply a scientific study that's main aim is to become quoted material for everyone trying to convince city, state, or national agencies to build more bicycle paths and/or raise enviromental standards...but it's nothing new.

I kind of always knew that if I jogged alongside the freeway I probably was breathing in more crap than if I took a jog up into the mountains or through the park. You can debate changing emission standards, how to place bike paths or whether we should be creating more, but nothing has changed here.

I think also this is being too specific. In general despite the dangers of breathing in emissions from automobiles that exist for every urban dweller existing in a society that embraces petrol burning technology, it's about lifestyle.

If I'm placing an unseen bet on who's the healthiest? Either someone who bikes to work everyday OR someone who hops in their SUV with a box of Krispy Kremes for the office? I'm going with the bicyclists. It's not a perfect world, but this study looks only at what should be obvious specific realities but does not embrace the entire picture of lifestyle.

Keep on peddling.

 

:lol:

This is a good one. It tells a good deal on the progress we still have to make to change mentality about what "the road" and transportation is/should be.

I'd be curious to know know many still think like this... or maybe I prefer not knowing...

I associate this with senior people (muscle car era) but this may be very different between countries.

Just few pictures from a country where bikes are a mean of transportation:
http://image-photos.linternaute.com/image_photo/550/velos-amsterdam-pays-bas-8358270526-443814.jpg
http://www.jmrw.com/Chess/Wijk_aan_Zee_2007/images/Velos_20070124-092826.jpg
http://claudia.top-depart.com/Templates/1/1/3/2129/images/photo/192/3958/TP_5234.JPG

And this is not a poor/third world country... in fact, they are richer than people from the United States... (List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Oh yeah... you probably don't want to know about what they sell in this "Coffee Shop" on the last image...

 

I know too many people maimed or killed on bikes in traffic for this to be a question of "mentality". It is more the laws of physics. Cars and bikes don't mix.

I would love to see dedicated bike lanes and paths. I ride a bike too.

 

Speak for your own community. Bike commuting is very big business in mine. I just returned home from my fifth pedaled half-commute this week.

As for 'parks', the best parks for biking are the 'linear parks' -- about 15 feet wide, 30+ miles long.

This is very much about 'mentality' -- of the local driving culture. Combining this with your reports on two recent traffic tickets, I'm getting a picture of your local driving culture as being very aggressive. While the culture here is by no means gentle, it is less aggressive, and I will fight any measures (e.g. a standardized two second delay between traffic red lights and the next green) that roll out the red carpet for the aggressive folks.

This is an excellent idea, but I needed to get out of the dino-fuel guzzlers in this lifetime. The older trails and linear parks were a great way to get started, but after that I didn't limit my riding to those routes.

Once a critical mass of riders existed, bicycle improvements began appearing at a much faster pace.