Dmytry recommends replacing driving with bicycling, and various commenters agreed that the safest way to drive is to avoid driving whenever possible. Living in a city with good public transportation is recommended.
I haven’t actually studied this, but as someone who basically uses my bike as a car, it doesn’t feel that much safer. Most cities don’t have comprehensive enough bike paths to allow you to only use the paths, especially if you have a time limit and want to take the most direct route. Intuitively, it seems like bikes sharing roads with cars, which is basically the only option much of time, is more dangerous because of the fragility of bikes compared to cars. (Since I still bike, I guess I’m willing to put up with this risk in exchange for better physical fitness, saving money on public transit, and getting where I have to be faster.)
Didn’t recommend replacing driving with bicycling, other than by moving to a car-less town where everyone cycles. The point was that bicycling conditions you (or at least me) to not take eyes off the road, not sure though if its so for everyone or just me because i have bad sense of balance and compensate for it with eyes. My theory is that if you bike, you are used to mind state of not being distracted. Or at least, I do, ’cause my eyes are busy replacing for the inner ear function. (i don’t know how much other people have to look to keep themselves upright).
Indeed, before I had a car—an I was in the dangerous 15-24 age group—I did all sorts of tricks with my bike (I thought I was good), wheelie, no-handed turns, never waited for the green light etc. Because of the low speed, I speculate, you arrive at the feeling of control easier, you see and know the margins of the vehicle, you don’t have blind spots. Reinforcing intuition: you’re better and better everyday, WYSIATY. After I went to driving school (car and motorbike) I realized the dangers; also knowing some data about deaths and injuries car scare you.
Without data you are provincial, you have no context.
Or at least, I do, ’cause my eyes are busy replacing for the inner ear function. (i don’t know how much other people have to look to keep themselves upright).
I know for sure that I can bike with my eyes closed. I don’t most of the time, of course, and I definitely don’t if I’m on a road with cars on it (I’m pretty confident that I won’t accidentally swerve into the adjacent lane, but it just seems like a stupid idea in general.) So no, not everyone is like that, and I wouldn’t consider myself as someone with especially good balance either.
Can you bike no hands? This seems like something that would require good balance. (I can bike no hands, but it took a lot of practice.)
Biking with no hands easily when the speed is correct and surface is smooth… i think there’s not a lot of balancing going on, besides bike’s own, and the vestibular system may generally be bad for this kind of thing because of centrifugal force.
To think about it some more, I guess I just need to see some reference, not necessarily ahead, and I also bike on really messy surfaces most of the time, on which it is necessary to actively keep balance. Plus there’s far more pedestrians getting in the way of bicycle path. I also bike a fair bit on snow/ice in the winter.
Yeah… Messy surfaces are generally not a good place to bike with eyes closed either, any more than they are to walk on. Biking no hands feels like a balance challenge to me, but that’s mostly when I try to swerve or turn corners no hands. (You can do it by leaning in the direction you want to turn.)
i don’t know how much other people have to look to keep themselves upright
Not very much; on the other hand the lack of mirrors require me to pay more attention in order to be aware of what’s behind and beside me. (This is partly compensated by the fact that, not being in an enclosed space such as a car, I can hear better. But if we go down this road we encounter differences between people in how they process visual vs auditory input, the fact that Feynman counted in his mind by listening while Bethe did by reading, so that Feynman could count while reading but not while speaking and vice versa, and so on, and so forth.)
on the other hand the lack of mirrors require me to pay more attention in order to be aware of what’s behind and beside me.
Having not really learned to drive until after I’d been biking for years, I’m much more comfortable looking around and keeping track of what’s around me on a bike than I am looking in a car’s mirrors. The car itself, as an enclosed space with walls and stuff, makes me feel half-blind even when I do look in the mirrors. I don’t know if I can hear better on a bike; I do frequently listen to my iPod, which might not be a good idea, but which makes a 40-minute commute a lot more fun.
I haven’t actually studied this, but as someone who basically uses my bike as a car, it doesn’t feel that much safer. Most cities don’t have comprehensive enough bike paths to allow you to only use the paths, especially if you have a time limit and want to take the most direct route. Intuitively, it seems like bikes sharing roads with cars, which is basically the only option much of time, is more dangerous because of the fragility of bikes compared to cars. (Since I still bike, I guess I’m willing to put up with this risk in exchange for better physical fitness, saving money on public transit, and getting where I have to be faster.)
I’ve read that biking is more dangerous than driving per mile, and walking is more dangerous than biking.
Not only are you more fragile, you’re on the road longer (especially with walking).
Didn’t recommend replacing driving with bicycling, other than by moving to a car-less town where everyone cycles. The point was that bicycling conditions you (or at least me) to not take eyes off the road, not sure though if its so for everyone or just me because i have bad sense of balance and compensate for it with eyes. My theory is that if you bike, you are used to mind state of not being distracted. Or at least, I do, ’cause my eyes are busy replacing for the inner ear function. (i don’t know how much other people have to look to keep themselves upright).
I’m the opposite. When I started driving, I became a safer bicyclist. More concentration and more explicit checking my surroundings.
Indeed, before I had a car—an I was in the dangerous 15-24 age group—I did all sorts of tricks with my bike (I thought I was good), wheelie, no-handed turns, never waited for the green light etc. Because of the low speed, I speculate, you arrive at the feeling of control easier, you see and know the margins of the vehicle, you don’t have blind spots. Reinforcing intuition: you’re better and better everyday, WYSIATY. After I went to driving school (car and motorbike) I realized the dangers; also knowing some data about deaths and injuries car scare you.
Without data you are provincial, you have no context.
I know for sure that I can bike with my eyes closed. I don’t most of the time, of course, and I definitely don’t if I’m on a road with cars on it (I’m pretty confident that I won’t accidentally swerve into the adjacent lane, but it just seems like a stupid idea in general.) So no, not everyone is like that, and I wouldn’t consider myself as someone with especially good balance either.
Can you bike no hands? This seems like something that would require good balance. (I can bike no hands, but it took a lot of practice.)
Biking with no hands easily when the speed is correct and surface is smooth… i think there’s not a lot of balancing going on, besides bike’s own, and the vestibular system may generally be bad for this kind of thing because of centrifugal force.
To think about it some more, I guess I just need to see some reference, not necessarily ahead, and I also bike on really messy surfaces most of the time, on which it is necessary to actively keep balance. Plus there’s far more pedestrians getting in the way of bicycle path. I also bike a fair bit on snow/ice in the winter.
Yeah… Messy surfaces are generally not a good place to bike with eyes closed either, any more than they are to walk on. Biking no hands feels like a balance challenge to me, but that’s mostly when I try to swerve or turn corners no hands. (You can do it by leaning in the direction you want to turn.)
Not very much; on the other hand the lack of mirrors require me to pay more attention in order to be aware of what’s behind and beside me. (This is partly compensated by the fact that, not being in an enclosed space such as a car, I can hear better. But if we go down this road we encounter differences between people in how they process visual vs auditory input, the fact that Feynman counted in his mind by listening while Bethe did by reading, so that Feynman could count while reading but not while speaking and vice versa, and so on, and so forth.)
Having not really learned to drive until after I’d been biking for years, I’m much more comfortable looking around and keeping track of what’s around me on a bike than I am looking in a car’s mirrors. The car itself, as an enclosed space with walls and stuff, makes me feel half-blind even when I do look in the mirrors. I don’t know if I can hear better on a bike; I do frequently listen to my iPod, which might not be a good idea, but which makes a 40-minute commute a lot more fun.
Makes sense; I’ll adjust the post.