Bike to Work?

Shelby Wood (not Green) writes a column (yes Green) for our local paper, the Oregonian. Today's column was about biking to work. She writes:

My Top Three Reasons for Not Riding a Bike to Work:

1. Fear of being killed or maimed by a car or truck.
2. Fear of being killed or maimed by something I do that causes me to slam into a car or truck.
3. Fear of arriving at work, or back home after work, stressed out by spending 30 sweaty minutes trying not to get killed or maimed by a car or truck.

She goes on to discuss her views on the subject.

I used to ride my bike to work a couple of times a week. I did it for at least a year, maybe more. I gave it up for all the reasons she mentions. I don't know whether I was ever afraid, I don't recall anything really scary happening to me, and I wasn't riding downtown. I was riding mostly on side streets or in designated bike lanes.

But I looked at the situation: me, riding a bicycle next to multi-ton blocks of steel traveling at 3 or 4 times my velocity. It just did not seem like a prudent thing to do. It's kind of like guys who stick a gun in the front of their pants. It might be perfectly safe, but geez, if something did go wrong, it would be really bad.

I don't ride my bike hardly at all anymore. I don't think I will be doing any more riding on paved roads. If there is even a chance there is going to be a motor vehicle on the same road, I don't want to be there on a bicycle.