I ride my bike to work -- why don't you?

[woob]

I just remarked on another thread, it seems in denver some of the bike paths get plowed before the roads. nice.

[bigwilly]

from getoutdoors.com

A recent study found that despite widespread attention to the importance of helmet use, not only has helmet use not gone up, but the severity of cycling injuries has greatly increased. The researchers looked at cyclists admitted to a trauma center in Denver over 11 years. During that time, the severity of injuries and the length of stay for rundown cyclists dramatically increased. The obvious answer is that more people are riding their bikes, which is great, but the bad news is that the cycling infrastructure can't handle all the new riders. Inexperienced people are getting on their bikes to be healthy and avoid oil wars, and more of them are getting run over.

The Freakonomics blog on NY Times ran a similar article that posed the questions, "Will Bicycling to Work Get you Killed?" They found that bikers are 12 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than car drivers, but also that drivers have a 39% higher mortality rate. Basically, if you can survive the bike ride to work, you'll live a longer life.

[steveindenver]

The Freakonomics blog on NY Times ran a similar article that posed the questions, "Will Bicycling to Work Get you Killed?" They found that bikers are 12 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than car drivers, but also that drivers have a 39% higher mortality rate. Basically, if you can survive the bike ride to work, you'll live a longer life.

Interesting. Bloomberg has done a lot of work to improve the bikeability in NYNY since getting into office.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by woob

I just remarked on another thread, it seems in denver some of the bike paths get plowed before the roads. nice.

That is certainly the case in Louisville, didn't know it was true in Denver as well.

[Tiger Beer]

Are there any bike lanes in Denver that are like the ones in China?

Basically you have a bike lane between the parked cars and the sidewalks. Incredibly safe. Most of the bike lanes I've seen in the U.S. are little narrow ones between the moving cars and the parked cars, and quite a few serious accidents because of it.

[Katiana]

In Louisville, the bike lanes are completely separate from the roads, not always even parallel to them. Check it out on google maps.

[woob]

Originally Posted by steveindenver

Interesting. Bloomberg has done a lot of work to improve the bikeability in NYNY since getting into office.

I'm glad he was reelected. during the last 3 years I was living in NYC biking really took off thanks to all the bike lanes and protected paths put into place. the streets in denver are so much quieter than new york I'm not sure all that is really necessary, but I would like to see some protected bike lanes on the major arterials. Trying to cross speer or I25 on a bike is pretty scary.

[denverian]

I don't ride my bike to work because I don't have and can't find a job!