Respecting the Dangers of Cycling

Two cyclists died in the past three days.  I didn't know either of them, but I'm coming to realize that I've taken both deaths personally.  Very.  I'm writing this in the first person because I hope that you'll take it personally, too.

The first cyclist – who was identified by police on Tuesday as Fitzgerald Pollard, 44, of Arlington – was a local rider.  He died after colliding with a car on Sunday, near the intersection of Walter Reed Drive and Four Mile Run Drive.  Many cyclists are quite familiar with that intersection, though most pass by the rather steep Walter Reed Drive hill on the very flat W&OD trail that runs perpendicular to it.  The cyclist who crashed, however, was – according to police accounts – coming down Walter Reed's steep hill, lost control, and crashed head-on into a car.   He was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The second cyclist – Wouter Weylandt – was a 26-year-old professional rider competing in the Giro d'Italia.  He died after crashing on a high-speed descent during the race. It wasn't a particularly tricky section of road where he crashed, and his specialty (sprinting) required that he have some of the best bike-handling skills in the peloton.  Even so, by the accounts of riders around him, he made a simple mistake of not noticing a slight protrusion along the course. But the consequences of that small moment of inattention were enormous and permanent.

How do these fit together?

I hope it's obvious.  Assuming the accounts we have of both incidents are true (with great emphasis on assuming – we do not yet know all the facts of either cases), both riders were felled by their own mistakes.  Riding a bike can have deadly consequences if you're not in control and paying attention.  

I do not – for a moment – intend to engage in scaremongering about the dangers of cycling. Having quite consciously chosen the net benefits of cycling as my primary means of transportation, I'm not only comfortable with the risks of it, but encourage others to make the same analysis and choice.  At the same time, it's important for me – and everyone else who makes the same choice – to respect the fact that the daily dangers cyclists face can quickly rise to the level of life-threatening.

In the end – and regardless of the errors of motorists, failures of road design or inattention of other people –  cyclists can really only trust themselves to provide for their own safety.  It is essential that  those of us who head out onto the street to be sure that our bikes are in good working order, that we're capable of controlling them, and that we are paying attention to everything around us.  If we aren't?  The consequences can be tragic and permanent.  And the matter of fault will be a distant concern of secondary importance.