Car, Bike & Pedestrian Safety: The Common Denominator

I asked a neighbor who works in bio-tech if he knew Susan Watson, the 62 year-old researcher who was recently struck and killed by a big rig truck at 5th and Market in Oakland while riding her bike home from work. He works in the industry, but didn't know her. But mentioning her death sparked a discussion about the responsibilities of cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians. Standing on the sidewalk in front of his house, my neighbor made two interesting assertions: Bicyclists never obey traffic regulations and if cyclists want safer roads, they should be taxed. Two fascinating ideas that indicate just how far market values have penetrated our everyday view of life, ethics and morality (a topic explored in depth by Michael Sandel).

I was about to respond with "No one obeys the rules of the road any more ..." when it occurred to me: The unifying element in this discussion about car, pedestrian, and bike safety is obvious. It doesn't really matter what sort of vehicle a person is operating, more and more of us are doing whatever we please: California stop, Idaho stop, texting, talking on their cellphone without a hands-free device, applying make-up, eating, reading, and so on. Pedestrians make risky choices, too: Walking against the light, jay walking, blundering into the street while texting, talking on their cellphone, reading and so on. The unifying element is us, We the People, aka human beings.

If dividing the world into equal parts crazy drivers, crazy cyclists, and crazy pedestrians doesn't move the debate forward, perhaps asking why people engage in risky behavior will add some clarity. One factor in risky behavior is what those in aviation refer to as external pressures and most of us have plenty of pressure in our lives. One good example? Step outside my front door between 7:45am and 8:05am on a school day: Stressed out parents driving their kids to the school down the block doing all the things they know they shouldn't do: They speed, cut off other drivers, fail to give pedestrians in a crosswalk right-of-way, and they put those few parents and kids who cycle to school at significant risk. Hell may have no fury like an angry parent, but it's not just parents who are stressed out.

All of us are going too fast and it's clear we are pushing the limits of our primitive neurological abilities. Most of us are in denial about this. We try to squeeze too much into the available time, we work long hours, and we don't sleep enough. These factors leave us cognitively impaired. And consider that research indicates chronic stress can cause mental illness and you have an even more complete, albeit sobering picture. So we think we're smart, but we make poor decisions. We think we have lightning fast reaction time, but we miss important events due to distractions. And we fail to recognize the hazards that our impairment brings to something as simple as trying to parallel park or crossing the street to a catch the bus.

We know that trying to reason with a stressed out driver, cyclist, or pedestrian doesn't work. You have to wait until they've calmed down, the adrenaline has subsided, and they have collected their wits. Even then, it's difficult to get most Americans to do something we should all be better at, given the number of errors we make every day: Admit our mistakes and apologize. We could also do a better job of respecting the lives of those around us, whether they were in a car, on a bike, or traveling on foot.

Carrying things on a Bike, on a Bridge

If you want proof that engineers and designers who come up with bike routes are often not bike savvy, consider that 2nd Street is a designated bike route through Oakland's Jack London Square: It cuts right through the wholesale produce market, there are stop signs at virtually every intersection, and the street is lined or blocked with forklifts and delivery trucks. Even when a bike route is through a quiet residential neighborhood, what's with all the stop signs? The idea behind biking is to keep your momentum going, not to be forced to stop and start dozens of times. That's why I avoid designated bike routes and boulevards due to the greater amount of traffic and the preponderance of stop signs that seem to crop up at every intersection.

With the early part of today free, I spent time running errands and doing laundry before cycling to Sweet Maria's to pick up some green coffee. I threw one pannier on the rack and began winding my way through the back streets of Berkeley and Oakland. I won't tell you the route I took since, frankly, doing so might increase the number of bikes on my little bit of asphalt heaven. So stick to the bike lanes and the main thoroughfares or stay in your car and drive on the freeways, nothing to see here, move along ...

With three pounds of green beans loaded, I lamented the fact I'd be driving to the airport later. Since I'd be sitting in a car (undoubtedly in traffic), why not take the long way home on this bike ride? So I rode 7th Street to Maritime and cycled the eastern span of the Bay Bridge. I've cycled the bridge a half dozen times or so, but each time there seems to be something interesting going on with the deconstruction of the old cantilever section. This day was near perfect as the path was mostly empty. If you haven't cycled the bridge and gotten a close look at the old span, I suggest you do so before it's gone. At the rate they are going, it won't be long before the old bridge is history. And once the old span is gone, work will begin on completing the bridge path to Yerba Buena/Treasure Island.