Though it may seem to go against common sense, riding on a bicycle path is often more dangerous than riding in traffic.
Indeed, bicycle collisions happen about three times as often on bike paths as on streets, according to a bicycle safety book published by the city of Chicago.
“The reason is that on paths, no one really knows the rules,” said Dave Glowacz, a Chicago bicycle activist who supervised writing the safety book for the city. “On the street, there are rules everyone follows so that every driver knows what to expect from every other vehicle.
“When bicycles are in traffic and follow those rules, they are much less likely to have an accident.”
Glowacz, on the board of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, said following the rules of the road and wearing a helmet are the two most important things a bicyclist can do to avoid accidents and injuries.
The bike safety author, who is writing his own book, “Urban Bikers’ Tricks & Tips,” said the city biking booklet is meant to get its message across forcefully.
“We realized that safety isn’t sexy,” he said, “so every concept we mentioned is represented visually. It’s still not sexy, but now it has nice clothes.”
Though every expert agrees that all bicyclists should wear helmets, there is philosophical disagreement about how to achieve widespread helmet use. Glowacz and most of his colleagues oppose laws mandating them.
“A lot of bicycle advocates believe that laws aren’t the way to go,” he said. “A law gives the impression that a helmet is the only thing needed to be safe, and that’s false. If a kid is wearing a helmet and he rides his bike against traffic and has a head-on collision with a car, he’ll still probably die, even with the helmet.”
On the other hand, even the most skilled, experienced cyclist can have a mishap that may prove fatal without a helmet.
Sgt. Tom Northfell, commanding officer of the Chicago Police Department’s bicycle patrol, has seen enough experienced bike riders have accidents to adamantly support wearing helmets, even to the point of requiring them.
“I saw a bad one a couple years ago where the rider was carrying his helmet on his handlebars instead of wearing it,” said Northfell. “He hit a 9-year-old on a bike head-on. The boy was banged up, but the adult was airborne. He’s paralyzed now.”
Northfell has taken a spill and was saved from permanent injury by his helmet, and other police on bicycles gularly fall while on patrol.
“You can be a great rider,” said Northfell, “and yet it happens. You hit a paint strip that’s wet and slippery or catch your wheel in a crack on the path, and you’re down. My own kids are 5 and 7 and they don’t know what it’s like to ride without a helmet because they’ve never done it.”
A major safety problem with bike paths, Northfell said, is that they are usually multi-use.
“The bike riders think of them as bicycle paths, but the joggers think they are jogging paths and the skaters have their own ideas,” he said. “Then you have the thirsty 3-year-olds who dart across the path heading for a drinking fountain and the racing enthusiasts trying to do a training run between Fullerton and Oak Street Beach.
“It’s really sad on a Sunday to see a day that started out as very enjoyable turn tragic for some people because of accidents.”
Bike riders who want to go fast enough to get a workout should try the lakefront path south of McCormick Place, where it isn’t congested, said Northfell. At one time, the less used portions of the path attracted muggers seeking to steal bicycles, but that problem has been greatly reduced in recent years by police patrols.
“We have officers out riding along there every day,” said Northfell. “Some wear uniforms, but many are in plainclothes. If we see anyone who looks like he is stalking cyclists, we stop them for questioning. We want the word to spread that you can’t tell when a bike rider may be the police.”
Chicago’s government promotes bicycling and bicycle safety, said Ben Gomberg, the city’s bicycle program coordinator.
“We’ve probably got the best package of bicycle materials in the country, and it’s free,” said Gomberg. Call the city traffic department at 312-744-4689 for the materials.
The city and the bicycle federation are collaborating to produce abridged versions of the safety booklet this year, said Randy Neufeld, executive director of the bicycle federation.
“We hope to have the abridged version out in time for Bicycle Week, May 19 to 23, when there are lots of bicycling events planned,” said Neufeld.
One aspect of the drive to improve Chicago-area bicycle safety centers on a program sponsored by the League of Illinois Bicyclists and the Illinois Department of Transportation to train adults to become volunteer teachers of safe cycling for children.
“We now have 16 instructors as qualified trainers in Illinois,” said Al Sturges, executive director of the League. “We’re holding two more training sessions this spring to train more. So many people are really ignorant about bicycle safety that this is very needed.
“You have a lot of parents telling their kids to ride against traffic, which is extremely unsafe, but they just don’t know it.”
LESSONS IN THE RULES OF THE ROAD
The League of Illinois Bicyclists sponsors adult classes in spring and summer. Details are available on the League’s Web site at www.lib.uchicago.edu/ rd13/lib/ or by calling Al Sturges, executive director, at 708-481-3429.
Some scheduled courses:
– Naperville, 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. April 26, $15. Register with Laurel Salvador at 630-231-4595.
– Evanston, noon to 5 p.m. April 26 and 27, $30. Register with Kendra Massey at 815-472-6242 or 847-675-1218 on weekends.
– North Park Village Nature Center, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 24 and 25at 5801 N. Pulaski Rd., Chicago, $35. Call Dave Glowacz at 773-292-0932.
– Oak Park Park District, 1 to 4 p.m. May 17 and 24 and June 7. The course costs $50. Call 708-383-0002 after May 5.
