Scare a Driver, Save a Life?

Yesterday I was riding my bicycle on the near West side of Madison, which required sharing the road with motorists in a few places. Madison has an excellent bike path that crosses the city (and links up with an interstate bike trail), and it has bike lanes on a few streets, but in other places I have to share the road with cars. This latter scenario always makes me nervous, but yesterday I was noticing how much it seemed to make drivers nervous, too. Even though I was staying in lanes, signaling before changing lanes, and otherwise behaving in a predictable and legal manner, it seemed like just my presence on the road was enough to make drivers slow down and behave more carefully. And that was when I realized what a great thing it is to scare drivers.

Here's the thing: Normally I am afraid to share the road with drivers because I anticipate that they will be reckless, will drive too fast, will not pay attention to me, and will possibly hit me. And all of those things do sometimes happen to bicyclists. (And, in defense of drivers, I have seen almost as many reckless bicyclists as I have reckless motorists.) But it seems like more often, drivers actually drive slower and are more aware when they see bicyclists in lane. A few times I have had drivers try to zip around me, but as long as I stay in a lane like a vehicle--which, on the street, I am--most drivers seem to treat me like a slow-moving and more easily breakable vehicle. They drive respectfully, and we all get where we're going in a reasonable time.

This is an all-around public good. My fears of being hit by a reckless driver depend in part on my perception of the roads as a place drivers will not share with cyclists. But I also realize that such an unsafe environment is supported partly by a shortage of cyclists using the roads. If drivers seldom encounter cyclists on the road, they will have less experience with them and will treat them more like an intrusion into their space. On the other hand, if drivers frequently see cyclists, they will have to adjust their driving accordingly. This means they will drive slower and pay closer attention to their surroundings, which will in turn make the cyclists safer, and that will make it easier for more cyclists to use the road system.

But this does not only benefit cyclists. Most traffic accidents are the result of drivers going too fast or paying too little attention. Pedestrians in crosswalks are also at risk when drivers behave badly, but so too are the drivers and their passengers. Inside a car it is easy to feel isolated from the rest of the street, but that sense of isolation is what leads to bad driving and accidents. If seeing a bicycle on the road makes the driver nervous and he accordingly pays closer attention and drives at a responsibly speed, he will be protecting himself and his passengers as much as the cyclist.

And, in an era of massive budget cuts to public programs, communities should really support seeing more cyclists take on this role. If a cyclist on the street can have the effect of getting drivers to slow down and pay attention, then the cyclist is fulfilling a role similar to speed monitoring signs, or police officers in speed traps. But the cyclist does not cost the taxpayer anything. It's almost like a community speedwatch. (Which also exists, and is something I wish more neighborhoods would use.)

So the next time you see a cyclist on the road and he makes you slow down, be thankful that he is out there keeping you safe.