A total of 30 cyclists died in New York City last year, according to new data from the city’s Department of Transportation, and reported in the NY Times.
30 cycling deaths may not seem like a lot in a city of 8 million. But 48,800 people ride their bikes every day in NYC. 395 of those cyclists were severely injured last year, including 79 people who were riding e-bikes. Curiously, bicycle injuries and deaths had been going steadily down before last year. Read the Times report for more info.
If you ride a two-wheeler and see the aftermath of a serious or fatal crash, it breaks your heart. It’s such a terrible way to go, and of course you hope it never happens to you. Reading about the crashes moved me to write to you and offer you some tips to avoid one.
My qualifications are riding 200+ miles a week in NYC for fourteen years over all 5 boroughs, and never going down despite rain, snow, ice and wind. It’s the same with me and motorcycles – I’ve been riding them for 22 years and over 100 machines all over the USA and parts of Europe. Never went down. (Knock tank,)
This isn’t a brag, though. There are specific reasons I’m still in one piece. Here are 6 tips to help you get where you’re going and back home, time after time.
Maintain your bicycle
Keep a pump with a gauge in your apartment or make friends with a local bike shop offering air and keep the tires inflated to proper PSI before each ride. It’ll help the bike handle better and you’ll avoid getting flats, too.
Make sure the brakes, seat and handlebars are tight and either learn to lube the bike yourself or have it done at a local shop. A once-a-year visit to the shop was enough for me – you may need more care depending on your bike and what kind of weather you ride in. Your bike has no “check engine” light, so maintenance is entirely a self-generated task, but worth it.
Be hyper aware
One thing you’ll notice when you walk, bicycle, drive, blade, board or run is how oblivious the hordes of humanity are. Why? It’s not just because of all the earbuds. Most of us are not taught to be “in the moment” in school or anywhere else.
But being hyper aware enough to spot trouble, even a split second before it gets to you, can mean life or death.
So how can you become more aware? You deliberately, consciously come out of your busy brain and into the physical world, moment by moment, using your eyes, ears and Bat-sense to detect threats, front, side, and rear, especially rear.
Get used to it and, like a GPS system, you’ll start constantly adjusting yourself according to the conditions around you and you’re less likely to be hit – or you’ll have a close call instead of a crash.
Check Your Outrage
It is indeed a great affront when a vehicle runs a stop sign, a car blasts its horn inches behind you or pedestrians think the lights don’t apply to them. But as the great Westley in “The Princess Bride” said, there is “who is right, and who is dead.”
Contain your urge to explode. You’ll have a better ride if you lose the urge to berate, scold, scream and correct. You are far less likely to get into a crash when you’re centered than when you’re boiling, and we all know there are many reasons to boil when bicycling in NYC. Let someone else do the boiling.
There will be times, too, when you’ll almost hit someone and the person, naturally, will respond with a blast of verbal bile. The proper response is “Sorry!” and on your way, and let them go theirs. You can get into a dozen fights over 20 blocks if you want to, or you can get where you’re going without making everything that happens on the street into a personal insult or challenge.
Be extra cautious when there are no bike lanes
It’s a proven fact that bike lanes reduce bike crashes, but there will be times when you come across beat-up roads with no street lines of any kind, where no one really knows where to go and when, except for the lights. In this case, the cars and trucks are likely to be all over the place. Hold your position, keep hyper aware and steady as she goes. Or get off and walk until it’s safe. Don’t ride on the sidewalk, please.
When biking next to a row of parked cars, watch the heads of people sitting in driver’s seats.
Keeping a vigilant eye on car doors opening while riding parallel to them is one way to anticipate being hit, and you should indeed watch those doors. But I’ve also found that if you see the driver of a parked car tilting their head and shoulders to the right, it means they’re making room for their left hand to grab the doorhandle to open it, and “here it comes.” A lot of them won’t check to see if anything’s coming, as you well know. See a goof before it happens, avoid it, and continue your ride.
If you carry stuff, balance it evenly
I was a painting contractor in Manhattan for a few years and I frequently carried stepladders, painting poles, bungee cord-wrapped drop cloths and, once, a 5-gallon container of joint compound on my bike to jobs. Never went down. Whether you have a backpack, side bag or a basket, pack your stuff so it’s even on both sides, and make sure you give yourself lots of extra time to brake.
Ride safe, folks.