When you're riding your bike to work, be prepared for the unexpected.

In an article in Here New Brunswick Urban Voice, called “Overcoming the fear of cycling”, Andrea Laltoo discusses being a bicycling commuter and the dangers often linked to habitual biking on the road with motor vehicles. Laltoo brings up the most asked question, "But isn't it dangerous?" which she answers “yes” but not for the obvious reasons most people assume. An obvious fact that bicyclists are not as protected as motor vehicles by seatbelts, airbags, and metal frame coverings, does cause bicycling to have a higher danger factor. Laltoo also considers:

“Cycling can even result in death (then again, so can eating a sandwich, if you choke). But is cycling along with traffic really as dangerous as our imaginations tell us "..." or is the fear of cycling an irrational phobia of stepping outside of our comfort zones?”

Laltoo then mentions another bicyclist advocate, Ken Kifer who has a website devoted to facts and details of bicyclist safety and lifestyles, as well as tips on bike safety in traffic, (see http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/traffic/index.htm). One of Kifer’s ideas is interesting to Laltoo, “most people are aware that flying is statistically safer than driving (when analyzing risk of fatality per passenger and per distance). Why, then, do we drive without giving a second thought to our safety and yet flinch at flying?” This idea of flying as more dangerous than driving may be described as what “Nancy S. Blum, a social worker with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, cites lack of control over the situation as the number one reason her patients fear flying.”

When it comes to car transportation, drivers are given many, many hours of training to be allowed to drive, as well as have direct control over the vehicle. As for biking, one has control over the moving object, but people are not given specific and detailed training on how to operate the bike and navigate the roads on the bike.

The real facts on bicyclist injuries on the road are not necessarily due to traffic, Laltoo cites “John Forester (founder of the Effective Cycling program)” who says, “50 per cent of cycling injuries and deaths were caused by cyclist error, compared with only 8 per cent caused by motorist error”. Though this does not take away the fact bicycling is still a safety risk, it is mostly through the control of the individual biker themselves. Laltoo promotes biking as a main form of transportation as it being safe, if one takes control over their biking skills and knowledge.

With more people wanting to save money and the environment, the bike becomes a good option for transportation. But with less than adequate skills, knowledge, and experience on a two-wheeled contraption, bikers may cause more harm to themselves than they realize if proper steps are not taken.

Keep this in mind the next time you hit the road on your bike. Where your helmet and if necessary a rear view mirror. I've been hit by a truck when training for a triathlon. Believe me it's not a pleasant experience. It was about mid-morning, time for the donut break when the approaching truck suddenly turned left right into my path. The rear duals didn’t look all that appealing, the passenger side of the cab uninviting so off I went trying to skirt along the front. He hit me directly in the center of the grill, sending me head-over-heels attempting a full gainer. I landed squarely on the high side of my butt. Days later it looked like I was carrying around a baseball in my back pocket. I broke no bones, chipped some teeth when I kissed the grill, and was plenty sore for weeks. The funniest part was when the cemetery manager straddled and asked if he could call someone for me. I gave him the law firm telephone number. On the way to the hospital I asked the ambulance attendant if I could use the phone. Calling my office, the secretary Julie told me the insurance company called in less than five minutes after the cemetery manager hung up. Never hit a guy who makes living as a personal injury lawyer. So now I get to honestly say I’m not an ambulance chaser, I’m always there before the ambulance.