Fear of Biking

Country folks are evolving faster than city slickers.

by Bruce Schimmel

I've never been hit while riding a bike. But just as the sparrow fears the hawk, I somehow sense that the automobile is not my friend.

So, for now, I'm sticking to bicycling on roads with fewer cars, far out in the country.

Though in my own peddling peregrinations lately, I've noticed something surprising. It's a change in rural motorists that I think signals a larger cultural shift, which could eventually bring peace to even Philly's mean streets.

As I bicycle down country roads in red, rural Delaware, I noticed that motorists there have become kinder to pedal-powered vehicles.

Even men in pickups have changed. And I'm talking about guys in 2-ton trucks, with a rack of shotguns and big chips on their shoulder.

In the past, I'd expect such folk to speed up and spray me with gravel. Now, they're slowing down, leaving me a wider swath. A few even wave and smile.

It's big news when the Boys of the Bitterlands — who worship NASCAR and fire-breathing vehicles — show some respect for patrolling without petrol.

And that, I think, has everything to do with the rising price of oil.

For as oil gets pricier, people living in the wide open spaces of the countryside are suffering more than city dwellers — and so are learning faster. Which means that country folks appear to be evolving faster than their city cousins.

So until gas prices rise high enough to civilize city drivers, a lot of fearful bikers (like me) won't venture out. Especially those of an older generation, who've grown quite accustomed to living, and who don't relish the prospect of becoming a hood ornament.

Like my friend whom I'll call John. A motorcyclist of nearly 40 years, John nearly met his maker on a bicycle. He was pedaling along Kelly Drive when a car clipped him and threw him to the curb. And, then, the car simply sped off.

Four days later, John woke up in intensive care with three busted ribs, a broken collarbone and a brain full of blood. Now nearly recovered, John says he'll won't bike in the city.

For the moment, nor will I. And I'm not exactly a shrinking violet. I'll motorcycle through city streets. But the prospect of biking down Spruce, dodging potholes, traffic and car doors, terrifies me.

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But Boyle is unable to say how many city bikers were bumped — or worse — last year. The city's statistics on such things stink. And accounting for bike accidents won't get better, he says, until we get what other cities already have: someone in City Hall on the lookout for bikers and walkers.

The city's first pedestrian/bicyclist coordinator is expected to be announced within a month. Which is especially good news, says Boyle, if that person encourages bicyclists take to streets in greater numbers. More bikers means safer biking, says Boyle, citing Dutch studies suggesting that more cyclists on the road result in lower rates of bike accidents.

Exactly why more bikers means fewer bumped bikes is hard to say. But when I'm driving and I see a bike ahead, I slow down. And the more bikes I see, the slower I go. And that makes a safer road for all.

So, between higher gas prices and a rising respect for bicycling, it's clear that more city folks will be turning to self-propelled, two-wheeled travel.

And with more bicycles will come more civility, which could help Philly relinquish its title of the nation's crash capital. And help me conquer my fear of biking.

(bruce@schimmel.com)