I've at least twice had drivers blow through red lights or stop signs at speed just as I was approaching on a bike; on one occasion I was heading north just a few 10s of feet south of an intersection when a woman driving east ran a stop sign at 35 mph and t-boned a car heading south, knocking hard and spinning it around 180*. The other time a driver blew a red light at 50; I seem to recall a 3rd instance too, but I won't insist on it.
I'm just very careful nowadays, but I keep riding on the roads. I do start each ride (and each drive, for that matter) with a brief prayer, and thank God, I've had only minor accidents, including 2 ER trips, once for stitches, and another time so that the medical staff could laugh at me for flipping the bike after catching the front wheel in a cattle guard and bruising ribs. But overall, few accidents, and very few and minor injuries in 60+ years of riding -- and I started riding in truly chaotic and dangerous traffic environments, hard to imagine for Americans, just when I was inexperienced and unskilled and aggressive. I can't advise anyone on what to do, but for myself (1) I don't want to live in a fear that keeps me from doing what I like to do, given that what I like doing isn't obviously foolishly dangerous. One can die at any minute from any number of other causes, at home or abroad; heck, in bed; death comes to everyone, often unexpectedly, usually from things other than cycling. 2nd, riding carefully as an adult on well-chosen roads is not statistically, as far as I've been able to tell, a very dangerous activity, and such danger as it poses is outweighed, so I read, by the benefits of the exercise; and, I'd venture to add, the psychological well being that comes from the activity. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgsc-Drb6ZsCaCQ%2BfRP56DXG7Z8FOgCS%3DTygkmANQGPB5A%40mail.gmail.com.
