Some Atlantans feel I put myself at great risk riding a bicycle in our city. At best, they consider me a valiant environmentalist, sacrificing my own well-being to keep another carbon-emitting vehicle off the road. At worst, they imagine me to be an asinine fool with a death wish, weaving through five lanes of 18-wheelers.
In reality, I’m neither of these people. Beyond the convenience and fun of it, riding my bicycle in Atlanta often feels safer to me than driving.
According to data from the Alliance for Biking and Walking, my calculated risk of death while biking in Atlanta is about 1.6 in 10,000 bicycling commuters. That puts our city seventh in safety among the top 52 large cities nationally. For comparison, Portland, Ore., often considered a mecca for American bicycling, ranks fourth.
Whittling my risk of an accident even lower, I choose to ride on more peaceful (lower-speed) roads, in bike lanes and according to the laws. While the ideal would, of course, be zero fatalities everywhere all the time, I’ll take a small chance so that I can pedal myself on an ice cream date.
Beyond the statistics, my bicycle just feels safer to me, particularly since I get anxious in a lot of traffic; and if Atlanta’s known for one thing, it’s traffic. When I’m winding through the streetcar construction downtown and I get overwhelmed, I immediately hop off my bicycle and onto the sidewalk, take a breath, and reconfigure a route on my GPS. Boy, I wish I could do that as easily in my car.
The bicycle also allows me to feel fully in control. Since it takes up about the same amount of space as my body, it feels like a mechanical extension of myself: responsive and reliable. As I move, it moves. If I need to speed up to merge onto Cherokee Avenue, I just pedal harder. My car feels enormous and separate from me. I can’t even see all of it. But my bicycle is nimble, and I trust it.
I also trust Atlanta drivers more when I’m bicycling. It’s a funny thing: drivers are a lot more courteous to me when I’m bicycling than when I’m a fellow driver. When drivers pass me, they typically give me a wide berth — maybe because I look fairly benign while pedaling to the grocery store in my sundress, or maybe because they know the three-feet law pertaining to cars and bikes. Anyway, I don’t get that kind of Southern hospitality when I’m driving alongside them.
I’m also more visible as a bicyclist than when I’m tucked away in the driver’s seat of my own car. As I pedal onto Peachtree Street, I can make eye contact with a driver approaching a nearby red light so we can both acknowledge that she sees me and she’s stopping. This makes me feel safe, too.
Transporting myself anywhere, by any means, will always carry a risk. I’ve fallen over my handlebars before, and I’ve also totaled a car. I imagine everyone has similar tales. But, between the two modes, I feel more secure riding my bicycle in Atlanta.
In years to come, I imagine this feeling will strengthen, particularly since our local leaders and our mayor have committed to increasing bicycle accessibility in the city by building more cycle tracks, separated bike paths, and other bicycle infrastructure. As local advocacy organizations like the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition grow, new people are trying bicycles as a fun way to travel. I’m happy about this, too; there’s safety in numbers, after all.
So if you drive past me while I’m bicycling up 10th Street, don’t feel nervous or scared for me — there’s no reason to. I’ll do my best not to worry about you, either.
