Jane Natoli and reality

Jane Natoli and David Chiu

An email message from Jane Natoli, who is running for the Democratic County Central Committee:

For the 3rd time in 4 years, I was hit by someone driving while biking yesterday on the streets of San Francisco. I have a broken metacarpal in my left hand and a badly busted bike. This trip to SF General was better than my last, or at least quicker, but it was still all eerily similar to the last time I was hit while biking. 

How many times do we have to repeat this before we have the safe streets we deserve, before we break the thrall of cars? I can tweet and text pithy things this time. What about next time?

...I've been hit 4 times! I fight because I know the trauma of getting hit all too well, both as a person walking and a person biking. Help me fight for change so there is no next time.

Rob's comment:

This is reality sending you a message, Jane. You should contemplate the wisdom of bike messenger/author Robert Hurst:

Is cycling dangerous? Yes. Yes, it is. Deadly, no, but definitely dangerous. This is actually a controversial thing to say. There are those who bristle at any suggestion that cycling is dangerous, because they fear it will scare non-cyclists away from ever ditching their cars and trying a more healthy form of transport. This is a good point, but it doesn’t change the fact that cycling is dangerous. This is not some urban legend that needs to be debunked. It is reality, and we need to embrace it (The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons From the Street).

Important to keep in mind too that most cycling accidents are "solo falls" that don't involve other vehicles. 

The city can't realistically make riding a bike safe, though it pretends to do that with its phony Vision Zero campaign and all its "improvements" to city streets. City Hall wants to get more people on bikes mainly because that might help mitigate the city's traffic congestion.

See also Nevius gives up riding his bike and BikeThink: The ideology of bicycles.