People are capable of acting like irresponsible idiots whether they’re traveling on foot, by bicycle, or in a car. And obviously the potential for causing death and destruction is exponentially greater when you’re piloting a high-speed, multiton vehicle.
Drivers have also hit Lehrer. For example, she says, once when she was walking her dog in Rogers Park, a motorist ran a stop sign, knocking her over, and fled the scene. “But with drivers it’s different, because you know you’re in a danger zone.” She adds that because bikes are relatively silent, she’s often startled by sidewalk riders approaching her from behind.
One neighbor actually argued that people move to Dickens to get away from bike traffic, drawing a round of applause. “How many bicyclists have killed or hurt pedestrians compared to drivers?” shot back another attendee.
Conner’s counterpart Heather Schady from Active Trans says she’s not convinced that Chicagoans are disproportionately afraid of being hit by cyclists compared to being struck by motorists: “In our experience people walking are most concerned about getting hit by drivers.”
The bottom line seems to be, although motor vehicle crashes are a much greater threat to pedestrians than bike collisions in terms of numbers and the potential for serious or fatal injuries, people who bike should take noncyclists’ safety concerns seriously and show some empathy for their fears, even if they aren’t always realistic.
