Women riding alone- is that THAT unusual??

(Marlene Blanshay) wrote in message ...

The funny thing is that many women who say 'oh I'd never ride alone,' will
drive cars alone. It's not like no one ever has a car accident!

....or indeed as if no one has ever spent time in a room by themselves.

driving alone is mentally a lot easier for people. they're enclosed
in a steel shell, they move fast, nothing can touch them. And they're
not physically tired when they stop.

another thing: confidence on the bike is everything. If these people
have never ridden a bicycle--or have not ridden a bicycle in a long
time--they are unsure enough about themselves on the bike without
having that insecurity compounded by being alone and vulnerable. Most
of the regular posters on this NG, male or female, are confident
enough on their bicycles that this isn't an issue at all; all we have
to deal with are the standard worries that go with being alone. The
bicycle doesn't add to them.

Of course, as Coppi said, the only way to be confident is to "ride
your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike..." so I guess there's a
vicious cycle (ha!) at work he insecure potential cyclists are
alone; their insecurities prevent them from riding by themselves;
they seldom ride; their insecurities persist.

Breaking the cycle? I don't know. Take a friend for a spin, but make
it easy, mentally and physically.

-Luigi

(Luigi de Guzman) wrote in
m:

(Marlene Blanshay) wrote in message
...

The funny thing is that many women who say 'oh I'd never ride alone,'
will drive cars alone. It's not like no one ever has a car accident!

...or indeed as if no one has ever spent time in a room by themselves.

driving alone is mentally a lot easier for people. they're enclosed
in a steel shell, they move fast, nothing can touch them. And they're
not physically tired when they stop.

And you can lock the doors in a car.

I'm female and do ride alone, not too long (about 8 miles a day) and not
physically far from my neighborhood, but it's occurred to me that it's
probably not the safest thing to do in the middle of a big city, even at
6am.

My bike's collectible, I suspect, and it could occur to some thug to step
into my path and wrest it away. I carry a cell phone and usually move
reasonably fast; perhaps the odds are in my favor, I don't know. There
are also joggers out and a few early commuters. So far I haven't worried
overmuch about the dark side of riding, but I can see how it might
intimidate someone just starting out, though to me traffic's a lot more
of a challenge than anything else.

another thing: confidence on the bike is everything. If these people
have never ridden a bicycle--or have not ridden a bicycle in a long
time--they are unsure enough about themselves on the bike without
having that insecurity compounded by being alone and vulnerable. Most
of the regular posters on this NG, male or female, are confident
enough on their bicycles that this isn't an issue at all; all we have
to deal with are the standard worries that go with being alone. The
bicycle doesn't add to them.

This makes a lot of sense to me.

----

57's Tips for Riding Sketchy Neighborhoods at Night

Ah, I'd take most of those "tips" with a grain of salt or three.

First of all, staying visible to other traffic is a cyclist's first
responsibility at night. But it's your ass, not mine.

Second, whatever were you doing in this "sketchy" neighborhood at
night anyway. But it's your ass, not mine.

Far better to stick with well-trafficked, well lit streets if one
must traverse one of these "sketchy" areas.

I should point out that sticking his head in the sand does not
make an ostrich invisible...

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________
------------------"Buddy Holly, the Texas Elvis"------------------
in.edu__________

Second, whatever were you doing in this "sketchy" neighborhood at
night anyway.

I live there.

Then you've adapted to your particular jungle. I've got a gang war
going on in my neighborhood sufficient to declare a police emergency.

Check the Washington Post, I'm not kidding.

Far better to stick with well-trafficked, well lit streets if one
must traverse one of these "sketchy" areas.

Wrong.

Tell me why. You're offering general advice to women cyclists,
not scoring points. Why are your methods better despite the fact that
they contradict what we know to be true about urban safety.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________
------------------"Buddy Holly, the Texas Elvis"------------------
in.edu__________

Tell me why. You're offering general advice to women cyclists,
not scoring points. Why are your methods better despite the fact that
they contradict what we know to be true about urban safety.

Because the quiet residential streets are often very quiet i.e. no cars in any
direction for long stretches. This affords the rider great maneuvering room all
over the street, and lets the rider avoid being rushed or whatever by
assailants on foot. It also allows the rider to keep moving for the most part,
rather than stopping at stop lights with cars. The urban safety rule you're
probably thinking of, stick to areas where there are lots of people, stay out
of quiet dark areas, etc. does not necessarily hold true for cyclists because
this type of advice concerns pedestrian assailants who aren't nearly as much of
a problem to the skilled cyclist on a wide open street as they are to a woman
jogging or walking to her car, or even waiting at her car at a stop light. This
leaves the danger from those in cars, of which there are few on the quiet
streets and these can be seen approaching from a long way off, and thus avoided
if the rider is truly paranoid.

I would add to the list dont ride along deserted "greenway" areas at night. And
also try to avoid industrial areas, the outdoor areas of which are pretty much
deserted by anybody you'd care to meet at night. Stick to residential areas if
possible.

If you're riding through a really bad area and getting freaked out, on a quiet
street you can see headlights coming from 300 meters and adjust route
accordingly. Generally you can see a long way because the streets in most inner
city neighborhoods are laid out in the 'orthogonal' style, that is straight,
perpendicular, regular. Get passed by very few vehicles the whole way home.
Visibility to other traffic is irrelevant most of the way. Biggest danger is
potholes. That's the way I'd do it. That's the way I do it.

Robert

Because the quiet residential streets are often very quiet i.e. no cars
in any direction for long stretches. This affords the rider great
maneuvering room all over the street, and lets the rider avoid being
rushed or whatever by assailants on foot. It also allows the rider to
keep moving for the most part, rather than stopping at stop lights
with cars.

In fact it's unlikely you'll be assaulted while on a bicycle.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________
------------------"Buddy Holly, the Texas Elvis"------------------
in.edu__________

(R15757) wrote in message ...
Eric Sande wrote:
Ah, I'd take most of those "tips" with a grain of salt or three.

Definitely.

First of all, staying visible to other traffic is a cyclist's first
responsibility at night.

Debatable.

with what? You can't debate fatality figures. Play the odds--even in
a sketchy 'hood, you're more likely to be hit on the road by some
asshole who can't see you than be a victim of violent crime while on
the bicycle.

-Luigi

Luigi wrote:

You can't debate fatality figures.


(1) Which fatality figures are those?

(2) Yes you can.

Robert

Tanya Quinn wrote:

: However in Ottawa Ontario recently a woman was murdered after going
: for a 1 hour bike ride near her home along a bikeway in parkland. That
: was a very sad story but there are flukey bad things that happen in
: the world and its not going to stop me from enjoying riding

I don't recall any local stories of bicyclists being raped or
killed, though that unfortunately happens to pedestrians time to
time.

Still, people don't think the problem is walking being dangerous,
but that things like that can happen at all.

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi

Luigi wrote:
Re fatality figures: A quick Google revealed the following:

snip same old fatality statistics

General consensus: better lights at night and better road manners =
better safety.

-Luigi


Bicycle safety statistics crack me up. First of all we should realize that
we're talking about a few hundred deaths a year in the US. Total cyclist
traffic fatalities will be about 700 or so total this year if the trend holds.
A substantial percentage of these occur at night (about 50% between 6pm and 6am
according to Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), a portion which is even
more impressive when you consider that relatively few cyclists ride at night.
But the question you have to ask yourself, is how many of these deaths were
children, or teenagers? How many were expert riders and how many were hacks?
How many of these deaths occurred after the cyclist made some terrible decision
in traffic, like blowing a red light or turning left into traffic from the
curb, etc.? If you can sort out the lawful adult riders from the rest, you then
find that a lot of their deadly nighttime accidents occurred on rural roads
with high speeds, and were hit-from-behind wrecks. And you also find that a
substantial number of those involved in night bike-car wrecks are drunk, both
drivers and riders.

Of course I agree that traffic is more dangerous than anything else when riding
at night. Riding busy streets is not the way to avoid getting hit by a car
though. At night, choose streets with few cars, whether you have a light or
not.

Robert