Tag Archives: BikeSafety

Cycling has been increasing in popularity as the years go by. But as this popularity grows, so, to, do emergency room visits due to crashes and accidents involving motor vehicles. One study from the University of California at San Francisco shows that medical costs for these bicycle accident injuries are skyrocketing. Over a 17-year period, the study showed that medical costs from bicycle accidents have risen to nearly $800 million annually. The vast majority of that cost goes to the cyclists, who are much more likely to suffer serious or catastrophic injuries in accidents compared to drivers in cars. And these injuries aren’t always simple scrapes, bruises or road rash. They can involve broken bones, traumatic brain injury and even spinal cord injury. Such injuries require expensive care, long stays in the hospital and multiple consultants and surgeons. How Do I Avoid Injury in a Car-Bike Accident? To prevent accidents…
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No one likes traffic, and that goes double for cyclists. Cyclists face increased risk of injury on the road, and it can be easy to be suspicious of drivers due to this danger. Reckless drivers, even if they don’t actually hit a cyclist, can lead to serious injuries for cyclists due to their erratic behavior. But actually, drivers in California are more courteous than most. A survey by Kars4Kids found that California was the 17th most polite state on the road, with an overall grade of B. Among California cities, San Francisco ranked fourth most courteous, while San Diego ranked 10th and Los Angeles ranked 15th. California would have been graded higher, but we do have some of our own less-than-courteous behaviors that we’re not great at. For example, we were the 10th worst state when it comes to stealing people’s parking spaces. How to Deal with Aggressive Drivers While…
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Some describe the rise of self-driving cars as the next technological revolution, an invention that will completely change the way that our society functions. Tesla, Uber and Waymo are leading the charge toward fully autonomous vehicles, while dozens of other car companies are incorporating self-driving features, such as automatic parking and collision avoidance, into their vehicles. But a Stanford University robotics researcher is speaking out against self-driving cars, claiming that they pose a potentially fatal risk to cyclists. Heather Knight, a human-robot interface expert with a PhD from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, recently published an essay about Tesla’s autonomous vehicles, titled “Tesla Autopilot Review: Bikers Will Die.” Ominous, no? The Review Knight and a colleague from Stanford took a spin in a Tesla vehicle around the streets and highways of southern California. She described the experience as “frightening,” despite working well in most situations. One severe flaw,…
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