OP here, I think all these scary stories just point to the need to have safe protected bike lanes like the beautiful bike line on first street NW which sadly ends at K street.

Anonymous wrote:No cyclists have died in the DC metro area since last June. http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/05/the-dc-area-has-set-a-record-for-safety.html

I couldn't find more recent stats, but in 2012 8 drivers, 6 pedestrians, and no cyclists were killed in DC
http://washingtonexaminer.com/d.c-traffic-fatalities-fall-to-record-low-in-2012/article/2518072

Anyone with a "death wish" would be better off driving than biking.

I canT trust this report. There was a long post just last year about the cyclist killed near or in rock creek park. DCUM posters were pointing out that they would see the woman and her husband riding every morning. As for the DC metro area, do you consider Largo, Davidson, and Annapolis MD the DC area. The female cyclist killed on RT 202 in Largo/Mitchellville MD last year, maybe it was 2012. Her body was left in the road as the driver kept going. How about the female cyclist killed outside Annapolis in 2013 where the grand jury refused to indict for manslaughter. These are just four cyclist deaths that I recall off the top off my head that have occurred within the last couple of years. I am sure there are others. And forget about deaths, what about the collisions that dont make the news because the cyclists survived only to live with serious bodily injuries or maiming. That article you posted is faulty/shoddy as heck, or the writer is just lying to foster an agenda.

Anonymous wrote:Wow PP husband is a cop, avid biker, completes centuries and yet is afraid to ride in the city? That's kind of weird. I ride my bike all across town and my kids do too with me and on their own. Using bike lanes is great, and I think all the time how much safer biking in DC would be if only car drivers would slow down and follow red light signals. They are the ones who can kill people, and yet, everyone says bicycling is too dangerous, as if we can't ever hope to change car driver behaviors!

Not afraid, just smart. He has seen the mangled limbs.

Anonymous wrote:OP, thanks for raising the topic. My child will be attending a charter several miles away
in 2015 and I think that I'll contact Jennifer Hefferan at DDOT for advice. I know that
the Safe Routes to School works with DCPS schools and they've been helpful
in adding bike racks near the school. I've been taking my child to the
local school via unusually wide sidewalks, we probably
won't have the luxury in the future.

Do you mean 2014-2015 school year?

OP, thanks for raising the topic. My child will be attending a charter several miles away
in 2015 and I think that I'll contact Jennifer Hefferan at DDOT for advice. I know that
the Safe Routes to School works with DCPS schools and they've been helpful
in adding bike racks near the school. I've been taking my child to the
local school via unusually wide sidewalks, we probably
won't have the luxury in the future.

Bikes on sidewalks a real problem I think. Pedestrians need a space that is theirs. I do like bike lanes.

Looks like there are a number of bike lanes that I hadn't considered using to commute to those areas, actually. Metropolitan Branch Trail isn't too far. Um, I can't recommend their biking directions, though their maps are good.

http://www.waba.org/resources/maps.php#dc

Also, apparently it's legal to ride on the sidewalk outside of downtown per WABA. Considering how few pedestrians are on that stretch of Irving/Michigan I wouldn't feel too bad doing it there. Even though I *loathe* bikes on the sidewalk in my neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No cyclists have died in the DC metro area since last June. http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/05/the-dc-area-has-set-a-record-for-safety.html

I couldn't find more recent stats, but in 2012 8 drivers, 6 pedestrians, and no cyclists were killed in DC
http://washingtonexaminer.com/d.c-traffic-fatalities-fall-to-record-low-in-2012/article/2518072

Anyone with a "death wish" would be better off driving than biking.

The problem with this argument is the denominator. There are far more person hours driving and walking vs biking. I used to commute via bicycle in other metropolitan areas but I decided not to do it here - it is just too crazy and dangerous.

If you read the linked articles, it's clear that biking is getting safer -- more people are doing it, and fewer are dying.

The first one isn't a researched "article," it's a blog/forum posting by a guy who keeps stats and says that there has not been a cyclist fatality in DC+burbs for 300 days.So nobody was sent to their grave last year.

The 1-paragraph forum post is silent on how many collisions cyclists in DC have experienced, how many hospital trips, how many traumatic brain injuries, broken legs, and so on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No cyclists have died in the DC metro area since last June. http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/05/the-dc-area-has-set-a-record-for-safety.html

I couldn't find more recent stats, but in 2012 8 drivers, 6 pedestrians, and no cyclists were killed in DC
http://washingtonexaminer.com/d.c-traffic-fatalities-fall-to-record-low-in-2012/article/2518072

Anyone with a "death wish" would be better off driving than biking.

The problem with this argument is the denominator. There are far more person hours driving and walking vs biking. I used to commute via bicycle in other metropolitan areas but I decided not to do it here - it is just too crazy and dangerous.

If you read the linked articles, it's clear that biking is getting safer -- more people are doing it, and fewer are dying.

Anonymous wrote:No cyclists have died in the DC metro area since last June. http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/05/the-dc-area-has-set-a-record-for-safety.html

I couldn't find more recent stats, but in 2012 8 drivers, 6 pedestrians, and no cyclists were killed in DC
http://washingtonexaminer.com/d.c-traffic-fatalities-fall-to-record-low-in-2012/article/2518072

Anyone with a "death wish" would be better off driving than biking.

The problem with this argument is the denominator. There are far more person hours driving and walking vs biking. I used to commute via bicycle in other metropolitan areas but I decided not to do it here - it is just too crazy and dangerous.

No cyclists have died in the DC metro area since last June. http://www.thewashcycle.com/2014/05/the-dc-area-has-set-a-record-for-safety.html

I couldn't find more recent stats, but in 2012 8 drivers, 6 pedestrians, and no cyclists were killed in DC
http://washingtonexaminer.com/d.c-traffic-fatalities-fall-to-record-low-in-2012/article/2518072

Anyone with a "death wish" would be better off driving than biking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I say bring on the bike lanes. Let's keep our populations safe and healthy and stop depending on cars unecessarily.

Not sure about safety. I just foresee more bike and car collisions. My husband works for MPD and he says that the bike accidents have increased tremendously. He is an advid biker who has completed several centuries, but he refuse to ride in the city. I would not allow my child to ride a bike in this city, but to each his own.

same here, except -I- am the avid cyclist, I've completed 3 centuries, plus a trip from Pittsburgh to Georgetown on a mountain bike, and I don't work for MPD.

I never, ever ride in the city's center or the arterials named after states (Mass Ave, Wisconsin, Connecticut, South Dakota ...)And more to the point, I would never, ever, ever commute with a preschooler - 1st grader on a bike to a distant charter school.

Seriously, Op and those like him: do you have a death wish for your young child? The time and place to posture about How Green and Eco You Are is not with a life that isn't your own, plus a UPS truck

Wow PP husband is a cop, avid biker, completes centuries and yet is afraid to ride in the city? That's kind of weird. I ride my bike all across town and my kids do too with me and on their own. Using bike lanes is great, and I think all the time how much safer biking in DC would be if only car drivers would slow down and follow red light signals. They are the ones who can kill people, and yet, everyone says bicycling is too dangerous, as if we can't ever hope to change car driver behaviors!

Anonymous wrote:I say bring on the bike lanes. Let's keep our populations safe and healthy and stop depending on cars unecessarily.

Not sure about safety. I just foresee more bike and car collisions. My husband works for MPD and he says that the bike accidents have increased tremendously. He is an advid biker who has completed several centuries, but he refuse to ride in the city. I would not allow my child to ride a bike in this city, but to each his own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, I can't handle more bike lanes. Especially now that I'm about to get rezoned from a school 3 blocks away to one that's nearly a mile. Starting in 2015 when our kid starts K, we will be forced to drive rather than metro. Bike lanes so more idiotic bikers can take up road space and driving traffic can get more congested just seems like a good way to add to the clusterf*ck that DME is creating.

Bike lanes don't actually cause traffic congestion to get any worse.

Not true. No one can make a blanket statement about the implications of bike lanes. I'd agree that some likely haven't impacted traffic, but others certainly have. When bike lanes went in on Sherman Ave and 11th Street, it resulted in both streets going from two lanes to one at key points. The traffic down Sherman and around 11th and Mass are pretty terrible now.

Oh yes, Sherman Avenue is awful. It was bad before, but now it is god-awful. Cars are re-routing and making the other streets bad.