Reply to Commuting to school by e-bike?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a huge e-bike proponent (the real e-bikes and not the electric motorcycles pretending to be e-bikes).  I’ve ridden thousands of miles on DC city streets sometimes with my child on the back, sometimes alone, and increasingly now [b]accompanied by my elementary aged child riding their own bike just in front of me. [/b] I accept that biking in the city is likely the highest risk activity we partake in.  I still think it is worth it.  I will say in 8 years of daily riding I’ve never been hit or even had a significant close call.  I am cautious and pick my route carefully.  I follow the rules of the road (not riding through lights etc) and when not in a bike lane I take the lane (meaning I ride in the middle of the lane so cars can’t miss seeing me or sideswipe me).

I fully understand people who don’t feel comfortable doing it but if you are interested in it I also recommend joining the dc family biking group and testing it out.

And yes my bike was expensive but I we still spend less money on it than our car (even though my bike gets more mileage a year than the car).[/quote]

I sometimes seeing people doing this when I'm driving and the first thing I do is find another route. I am terrified about driving by an elementary school student on a bike. They don't have the skills or reaction time or the presence of mind to deal with unexpected situations and, as a driver, I want no part of that. I am baffled as to why parents think this is a good idea. It seems spectacularly dangerous. I also don't know what the parent trailing behind them thinks they're going to do. If there's an accident, it will be over before you even know what happened. [/quote]

So let me get this right.  You see a kid riding a bike and you are terrified that you are not a skilled enough driver not to slow down, give them space, and not hit them?  I’m glad you pick a different route to avoid riding by kids on bikes but I seriously think you should maybe consider giving up driving,  [/quote]

Is it really that hard to imagine a child on a bike on a busy street who suddenly decides to do a U-turn, despite all traffic around them, because they saw a $10 bill on the ground and wanted to pick it up? Kids do crazy, unexpected things and they don't think about the consequences of their actions because, you know, they're kids. It's funny you think the driver who is worried about that is the one here who is the danger. I'd say it's the parent who put their child in that situation who is the problem. [/quote]

There was that poor Mundo Verde kid who died a few years ago in a crosswalk in a 20 mile an hour collision where the driver just could see them. Terrifying.[/quote]

Her name was Allie. She was biking on her own bike on the sidewalk, not in the road. Her parents became national advocates for safer streets.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/allison-hart-obituary?id=6544562

Since this day, I've always had my kids cross the street side by side with me, rather than ahead or behind, no matter our mode of transport.[/quote]

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