Cycling needn't be life-threatening

No one in his or her right mind would use a bicycle as a form of transportation in Seattle.

In downtown Seattle, there is only one street with a bike lane -- Second Avenue -- and that is more a killing zone than a bike lane. My wife was hit by a car there, and I have had many close calls with opening car doors, drivers using the bike lane to edge into traffic, and drivers turning left without checking.

My daily commute is from West Seattle, over the old bridge, and along East Marginal Way. East Marginal Way northbound has a bike lane. Although it is bordered by train tracks, and is on a route heavily used by trucks, I have found this lane to be the safest cycling corridor in Seattle.

Nevertheless, one recent morning, a taxi driver, impatient with traffic, made a sudden right turn into me after I had entered the intersection of East Marginal Way and Atlantic. I had anticipated this, and saw his wheel start to turn from the corner of my eye. Thus, I was able to turn with him and stay upright.

Being hit by a car is nothing new if you use a bike to get around Seattle. You learn to live with it, or you stop riding. If you keep riding, you learn to anticipate drivers' mistakes. You become very aware of them, because they are so often unaware of you. Even so, I have come to count on being hit by a car about once a year.

According to Seattle's draft Bicycle Master Plan, 6,000 people use a bicycle as their primary mode of transportation. Some scoff at the idea of spending $25 million per year to enhance the city's cycling infrastructure for so few riders. I marvel that in a city with only nominal investments in cycling infrastructure to date, 6,000 of us risk our lives daily to use our bikes. We are clearly not right in the head.

How many right-headed Seattle citizens avoid using bicycles because it is unsafe? I don't know. Some have suggested that the investment called for by the Bicycle Master Plan would increase ridership by only 2,000. I find such a low number hard to believe.

But even if implementing the Bicycle Master Plan induces only 2,000 more of us to switch to using a bicycle, is spending $25 million a year to make the lives of 8,000 people substantially safer a bad investment?

Especially those people who are doing the most to reduce their carbon footprint and to reduce urban congestion?