There are several reasons for this. Laziness is certainly one reason for some. Others find they are too unfit anyhow so why bother trying. I suppose the text below has some good arguments that apply to these people too. But if someone does not want to be convinced, well, he or she will usually not be convinced.
So, I write this thinking mostly of those people who would use the bike, at least for some things, but don’t because they are worried about their safety on the road. I think also about those people concerned about the actual healthiness of cycling in a polluted environment and those who are afraid cycling is simply too slow to get them from A to B in time, and about those who are afraid their bike will just get stolen.
If you fit into any of the above categories, read on, because you will find that cycling is healthy, that in fact the air you breath in while cycling in traffic is cleaner than the one inside cars, and that the bicycle easily beats cars and even public transport in terms of speed.
I also put together some advice I got from different places on how to keep safe in traffic and how to make cycling more pleasurable, and to help make sure your bike is there when you get back
Talking of pleasurable, a little aside. I live in Belgium. People who have been to Belgium probably know that the weather here is, at best, changeable. It rains often. Yet, studies by Brussels City Council have come to the surprising conclusion that people who cycle to work get rained on just a couple of dozens of times in a year. I can attest to that. I seldom get rained on when cycling somehow. And that is nothing that a good outfit won’t fix anyhow. And this is rainy Belgium. Just to lay that one to rest straight off.
Advantages to Cycling
Health
Health is an obvious one. Numerous studies show increased life expectancy and better health for cyclists in young and old age. For example, in a brochure by the city of Brussels, Belgium, it says that 76% of people who cycle have hearts in perfect condition with the rest having an average heart health. 0% have a severely damaged heart. Non cyclists, on the other hand, have only 46% of people with their hearts in tiptop shape, 43% are average and 11% have severe heart damage.
Why? Besides the straightforward element of exercise, which is ever more important since modern life is less and less active, there is an element of relaxation and unwinding connected to cycling for one’s daily chores. To start, one is out in the open, and then there is also the pace, which is, in personal opinion, always more relaxed than driving. Or taking buses and metros for that matter.
But as it turns out, it is apparently also cleaner for our system.
One might think that cycling down a busy avenue would be a great way of turning our lungs black. But, according to studies, the air we breathe while cycling down a polluted avenue is actually cleaner than the air the people are breathing while sitting in the cars we’re zooming past. In fact, recent studies indicate that the air quality inside vehicles (and also houses and offices) is extremely poor. As a result, cycling through pollution is actually healthier than sitting in a car, with the air entry closed and breathing recirculated air.
The car is actually the main polluter of the air inside it. As a result the air inside a car is 2 to 8 times worse than the one outside. There are several reasons for this.
Outdoors, the wind carries the pollutants away, and at the same time, the cyclist absorbs less of what remains, since he or she is sitting fairly high up in comparison to the air vents for vehicles. This is important because pollutant concentration is highest near the ground (that is where exhausts are spitting them out and these pollutants are usually heavy).
Add to this that cyclists avoid tunnels and main thoroughfares (where the air is at its worst) and upon reaching red traffic lights can head straight up to the front of the queue, instead of sitting there in the middle of the exhausts. Numbers don’t lie and they are very clear. Your lungs prefer cycling. These average numbers I picked up from that brochure printed by the city of Brussels:
| pollutant intake (μg) : carbon monoxide Nitrousoxides (Nox) Benzine Toluene Xylol/Xylene | Bike 2670 156 23 72 46 | Car 6730 277 138 373 193 |
So, for most pollutants, cyclists get between 3 and 6 times less exposed to dangerous particles than motorists.
Subsidies
A second benefit, that exists in some places, but unfortunately not in others, is financial. Some authorities, either national or local, give tax benefits or even subsidies for people willing to leave the car in the garage and go to work by bike (I think there are also cases in which the subsidies are given by the employer, which then gets some benefit from the State). Mobility bureaus and such usually have info on what schemes exist and how to participate. Sometimes organisations also have to get a heads-up for the possibilities that exist from their employees because the authorities don’t publicise their schemes adequately or sufficiently (hint hint ^_^).
The schemes do not oblige people to always take the bike, but instead have some way of adjusting the amount of subsidy to the amount of times the bike gets used instead of the car, or subsidise the usage of public transports and bikes directly, instead of the passenger.
The financial support can actually amount to a few hundreds of Euro, not to mention how much you save on gas (and doctor bills), so it is definitely a win win situation if the possibility exists.
Higher mobility and speed
Add to the above advantages speed and mobility. For short trips, which in major cities usually make up more than 50% of trips, the bike is certainly the best bet. Easy to park and fast to move about.
A big city often has average speeds for cars running around 10 Km/h. Cities such as London may go as low as 5 or 6 Km/h, certainly during peak hours. As term of comparison, a standard bike, powered by an untrained person, easily makes average speeds of 15 Km/h, especially if the city has the right infrastructure to accommodate cyclists and is reasonably flat. Even on a difficult town, speeds of 10 Km/h are easily reached, i.e., comparable to what you get with a car.
Therefore, cycling might very well be the fastest way to get anywhere within a 5-10 Km radius. If you can take the bike along on public transport (like the metro, something which is becoming more common, at least outside of peak hours), then the bike is probably the fastest way to get anywhere in town.
Safety in traffic
All of that said, while cycling, for the most part, you’re as safe as you make yourself. The things bellow are a sort of check-list meant to help stay safe while making use of your bicycle.
1- An important thing is having an idea of what your route will be and preferring the easiest, cycle-friendliest routes to the most complicated roads or big crossroads. A small detour is often faster than going through the main grind spots.
2- Take ownership of your space on the road. That cannot be repeated often enough.
The first tendency while cycling is to try not to hinder traffic. So you try to stay close to the side. But this increases the risks. Cyclists need instead to take control of their place on the road, for their safety and that of everyone else
Drive not right next to the side but rather about one meter away from it. This makes it much less likely that you get hit by an opening door, or that you are not seen by someone pulling out of a garage or a narrow street. It also avoids getting squeezed by cars passing you and not bothering to do a proper takeover. Many drivers have a very poor notion of the width of their vehicle and their speed.
Also, if there is a section of the road with more space (due to the lack of parked cars or a bus stop area for example), resist the temptation to veer in to make life easier for cars following you. It will just mean that you can end up blocked when you try to veer back in.
3- At traffic lights, move to the front of the queue and set yourself at the centre, in front of the first car. It is not for nothing that at traffic lights there is room at the front for bikes. Stopping there puts you in clear view of the cars so you do not get trapped when they start moving. Drivers then know you are there and what you are doing. They cannot avoid you if they cannot see you
4- Indicate well, and well in advance, especially if you’re turning left. Make sure to set the arm horizontally so it is clearly visible and that it cannot be mistaken for a casual gesture.
Peek back before indicating, and then again before turning, to make sure all is clear. One has the tendency to start relying in one’s ear to find out if there is traffic or not, or to assume drivers will let us through if we indicated, but developing a reflex of checking visually what is going on is the best way of avoiding accidents. Even discounting bad will on the part of drivers, which I have felt very seldom, they might have been distracted somehow and not have seen us indicate, no matter how clear we might have been.
5-When turning left, do not do it suddenly in one movement. Approach the left gradually, as you indicate, before actually doing the turn, so basically, prepare drivers for your move.
If it is dark, wet, misty, or simply there is bad visibility or heavy traffic on the crossroad, it is sometimes better to simply pull up to the right, and cross like a pedestrian, before getting back on the bike and continuing.
6- Trucks/lorries, cannot see you. In fact, for the most part, heavy vehicle drivers drive them half blind. After all, they have no middle rear-view and the side mirrors have huge blind areas, or areas where they only show images past a certain height. In Europe, there is a big directive being prepared to retrofit heavy vehicles with better visibility systems, from different mirrors to cameras, but that is still a bit far in the future. So, in the meantime, cyclists must always approach heavy vehicles with extreme caution.
Rule number one: no overtaking trucks on the outside unless you are 100% positive that it will not start moving. It is possibly one of the most dangerous things to do on a bike because if it moves, you will have no way of warning the driver, and very often you will not have the space or time to avoid the vehicle.
Also pay attention to the very important fact that a turning truck/lorry, or bus, juts out large sections of its body as it bends. If it turns left, for example, it will need a lot of space to its right to manoeuvre. So be careful to not get caught anywhere near a manoeuvring heavy vehicle. Better to wait and let it finish.
While talking of heavy vehicles, buses always have priority when pulling out of a stop, if in relation to a bike. So, don’t act as if they have to wait for you to pass, especially since bus drivers are on a schedule. Even if you are not on their blind spot, you will only be a very small figure on their mirror which they might miss in their hurry.
7- When there are queues, in places without a cycle path, it is often safer, ironically enough, to cycle in the middle of the road, between the two lanes.
This has the advantage of making yourself visible to oncoming traffic, but also making you more visible to the traffic in your lane.
If you cycle between the two lanes, you will be coming in on the driver’s side, which is the side drivers check the most on their side mirrors.
Then, when the queue starts moving again, you can (and should) easily slide into a gap again, and you will do so remaining perfectly visible to all drivers. That said, if the traffic in opposite direction is heavy or you are going to turn right, or the road is very narrow, it might be safer to stick to the sides of the road. Check next point then.
8- Be extremely careful, and move slowly if you are cycling past a queue on the outside of the lane. Do stop and take your place in the queue if there is not enough space, and do not try to squeeze through gaps, especially if you are not sure the drivers have seen you. You could get trapped when the queue starts moving, because cars do not always move in straight line.
The problem with cycling on the outside of the road is that this is the side drivers tend to check the least on their side mirrors, not to mention the side with the largest blind spots.
It is also the side passengers get off, often without checking for cyclists. And, once the traffic starts moving, one can get easily trapped between the traffic and the parked cars, hit mirrors, etc.
If there is a bicycle lane, it is perfectly safe, of course.
9- On roundabouts, stick to the middle of the outside lane, or as far in as the cycle path if allows, if there is one. This decreases the likelihood of getting cars cutting you off on the way out of the roundabout. It is, nonetheless, a particularly tricky type of road for cyclists, so be extra visible, extra careful, and extra clear indicating what you’re going to do.
10- In many cities, bikes are allowed to ignore most one-way signs and cycle against the flow of traffic down one-way streets. This is great to save time, but it does involve extra risks because you will be taking people by surprise. They will not expect anything to be coming from that side and therefore will not pay attention. Since bikes are silent, they often have no idea the cyclist is there. So, extra care in crossroads, when passing garages and when going past pedestrians.
11- Trams are nice in a city, I find personally. They have a certain charm to them. But their rails are hell for cyclists. The only thing to do is to cross them at a low speed on as perpendicular an angle as you can and the road and traffic allows. Otherwise there is a real risk of sliding (even in dry weather) or getting a wheel caught.
12- You went shopping and you are carrying a couple of bags on your bike. Try to bear in mind that this will extend your braking distance, unbalance your bike if you’re manoeuvring, and simply just make your bike harder to manage.
13- And, last but not least, dress colourfully, or at least, do not dress too discreetly. A cyclist is a small volume on the road, meaning that since we do not stick out because of our size and shape, we must find other ways to do it. Colour, is the easiest. Another option, especially for the evening is lights and reflectors. Most of these things are quite cheap to buy, and sometimes you might even get them for free from employers, authorities, festivals, etc.
Avoiding theft
Just one final word about theft. That is indeed a big problem in some towns, but not an insurmountable one. A friend of mine had the following philosophy: “the best is to have two really good locks and one really beaten up old bike.”
I tend to agree, at least in part. If you want to use a bike to just get around town for work, to do grocery shopping or go out to meet up with friends, you certainly do not need something really racy right? Ask the Dutch. They cycle everywhere, and most of their bikes seem to date back to World War One.
That said, old bike or new bike, you still want it to be there when you come back.
So, first thing is to get two good locks. One is not enough, and you cannot just use whatever is cheapest either.
A good thing to have is a ring lock (which is embedded into the frame and jams a ring through the spokes of the back wheel). It seems those are hell to break.
That said, they do not fix your bike to anything, so someone can just ‘carry’ it away literally and work on it calmly out of sight. It is something handy to have, but not a must.
What you absolutely need is a sturdy U-lock. These are difficult to break or cut through and allow some flexibility regarding where you fix your bike.
Alternatively you can use a resistant chain with a key lock, but I think these are easier to break. On the other hand, they do give you more flexibility when it comes to choosing something to fix the bike to. Other types of locks, like spiral locks only take a few seconds to break. Locks that open with a combination instead of a key also tend to be easy to break, from what I hear and read.
You then need to use one lock between the frame and the front wheel, and another between the frame and the back wheel. At least one of the two should also fix to something solid, like a fence, or a lighting post. This way you protect the bike, and both of the wheels (since in some places the wheels sometimes get stolen, to be sold on).
It is important to also choose wisely what you attach the bike to. No point in having great locks o go and attach them to a rusty fence that gets loose or breaks the minute anyone bothers to shake it. It is also best to park the bike in a place where there is movement of people, of course.
