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 Cycle safely By Gene Friedman Bicycles are a popular means of transportation in Savannah. Savannah College of Art and Design students, as well as residents, ride them all over the downtown area. Bikes are inexpensive and a quick way to get through the clogged city streets. In fact, bikes can be faster than cars, which are usually caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic jams. Also contributing to the speed with which bikes cruise through the city is that most riders seem to ignore traffic regulations. According to state statutes, however, the same traffic laws that govern motor vehicles apply to bicycles. Thus, bike riders should stop at stop signs and red lights, should signal turns and should yield to pedestrians. Although some riders might observe traffic laws, few are seen doing so. Bike riders should start observing these laws. The Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department announced that they are enforcing bicycle laws in the downtown area. Riding in parks, riding at night without a headlight and traffic violations in general are the targets of this enforcement effort. All too frequently there are near misses between bikes and motor vehicles. One reason is that bicycles are less visible than other vehicles and drivers sometimes miss seeing bike riders. Other times, it appears that bike riders forget to ride defensively and unintentionally put themselves in dangerous situations. Some riders like to get up a good rate of speed and swoop around the squares as if they are on a slalom course. In several past instances, but for the skill of the rider, pedestrians would have been the victims of these racers. Bike riders should also wear helmets for their own safety. Admittedly, helmets do not make a fashion statement, but that opinion might change if a rider is fortunate enough to survive a crash without one. Any crash on a bicycle has the potential to be a serious one. This is quite obvious in a bicycle versus motor vehicle crash. Less obvious but equally harmful could be a crash coming off or going up a curb. Falling off a bike or being ejected from one are other situations where injury is highly likely. Wearing headphones is another dangerous practice. They distract the rider from concentrating on his riding. While a radio or cell phone might distract drivers in their vehicle, a car can be more forgiving than a bike. A car has four wheels that grip the road, which provides more control than a bicycle. In addition, if there is a crash, a car offers far more protection than a bike. Headphones, furthermore, isolate a person from ambient sounds. While a biker might hear a loud car horn honk or a siren, he or she will miss more subtle sounds. These sounds could provide just enough of an advance warning to avoid a crash. The cranking of a car engine might alert a person to take evasive action. Likewise, a car door slamming, tires squealing or someone shouting could be indicators of impending danger, which the biker would hear if he or she was not wearing headphones. Remember that safety is just as much of a consideration on a bicycle as it is in a motor vehicle. A version of this column first appeared in the Sept. 20, 2002, issue of The Chronicle. Friedman is director of college security at SCAD. |
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