A cyclist was struck by a car and killed on S. Main Street - a road that I ride quite frequently - last Tuesday. The ambulance actually passed me when I was stopped in traffic coming home from work - they had a section of the road closed off which forced traffic into a detour. I didn’t know what had happened at the time, but I knew enough to be aware that they tend not to bring out 6-7 police cruisers and redirect traffic on a major road for a simple fender-bender.

As I drove around the detour I formed a fairly clear idea of what happened - there was a car in the middle of the road at a strange angle. More disturbing, there was a bicycle laying a few feet away.

The whole incident was summarized in a small column in the paper the next day - according to the story in the Akron Beacon Journal, the cyclist was riding north-bound on the south-bound berm. At some point in time he fell into the road (swerved? hit a bump? the article really didn’t say) and was hit by a passing car and killed.

I find out later that this kid worked with my son Steven at Anthe’s a few years back - Steven was at the calling hours on Friday.

It pretty much sucks. Not very eloquent, but the best I can do.

The frustrating thing for me is that I see situations like those described in the paper (albeit with happier outcomes) most weekends (and quite a few weekdays) during the summer in my area, both from the perspective of a driver as well as a cyclist. I talked to Durfee about this the other day and he echoed that sentiment as well.

My position - and from what I’ve read most cyclists agree with me - is that people need to follow some simple and basic rules of the road. No matter if you are on a bike or in a car. I felt like I would share in the hopes that it may avert something like this in the future. For a more exhaustive (and better written) list see Bicycling Magazine’s Complete Book of Road Cycling Skills or this flyer from the Ride of Silence resources page.

Number one - if you’re on a bike, ride on the road, not on the birm or on the sidewalk. You’re part of traffic, and you have a right to be on the road unless it’s specifically posted that you are not (Interstates fall into this category).

Number two - bikes should ride with traffic. That way, if you’re riding at 15 mph and a car is going 45 mph, your combined closing speed is 30 mph - ride the other way and it’s 60 mph. That all plays into reaction time for both the driver and the cyclist. This seems to be a big part of what happened the other day - the cyclist was going north…on the south side lanes.

Number three - ride in a safe location on the road. This means you ride on the right side of the road far enough from the edge where you are comfortable - for me, this is usually between 12-18 inches from the edge of the road. Doing so enables you to move to the right (away from traffic) if you encounter a pothole, roadkill, or some other obstacle. Not doing so runs the risk that if you encounter something in the road you have to make a decision between driving off the road or weaving back into traffic.

Number four - be predictable. Ride a straight line - don’t weave in and out - and signal your intentions to the drivers around you when turning or stopping.

Number five - you should be courteous. Sure, you’re going to run into the occassional jackass out there, but most people are fairly reasonable. If you have to move over and block a car from passing you for safety (ie, on a very bad rode or difficult descent), make sure you allow cars to pass you again when it’s safe for them to do so. On the car side, being courteous means not zipping around them to make a right turn, or pulling out in front of them, or blowing your horn and trying to force them off to the side (all things that have been happened to me).

Number six - situational awareness. Know what’s happening around you. It seems like common sense, but from my vantage point it’s not.

Number seven - you only have one head. Don’t be a premature organ donor - wear a helmet. Otherwise chances are good that if you have any type of moderate to serious wreck you could suffer some type of head injury.

So there’s my two cents on staying safe while riding on the road. As I told Beth that night, this isn’t going to stop my from riding. I can’t even say it’s going to make me any more aware of the danger than I already am. It does, however, make me want to raise awareness of cycling safety. Durfee told me the other day that he normally yells at cyclists when they’re doing boneheaded things on the road (he’s good like that) - I’m normally a bit more restrained.

However, the other day I came across a 13-14 year old kid riding against traffic near the middle of the lane on the part of S. Main that was cordoned off just two days before. He swerved in and out of the middle of the lane as traffic would come up on him. Just days ago I would have kept driving, but this time I slowed down and yelled at him from the Jeep to not be a dumbass and to ride on the right side of the road. Don’t know if it’ll make a difference, but I had to try.

In a more symbolic vein, Durfee and I will be taking part in the Ride of Silence in Massilon Ohio the second week of May. To quote from their website:

Ride of Silence (http://www.rideofsilence.org):

On May 16, 2007, at 7:00 PM, the Ride of Silence will begin in North America and roll across the globe. Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn’t aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves.