More bikers = safer bikers

On the occasion of a memorial ride for the bikers who have been killed on New York City streets, Streetsblog's Aaron Naparstek has an interesting post about whether such memorial rides or the ghost bikes put up at the site where bikers have been killed dissuade other people from taking up or continuing biking. (The image to the left is one of the ghost bikes.) Read through the comments for some very thoughtful feedback to Aaron's post.

It's a fascinating discussion, but the nugget most relevant to Newton is this: studies show that there truly is safety in numbers. The higher the number of bikers, the lower the per-biker crash rate.

It makes some sense. The more bikers, the more attentive motorists will be to bikers. It's nice to know that research supports the assumption.

Memo to aldercritters: Want it to be safer for us bikers? Make the streets more attractive to people who aren't already biking.

Memo to Aldercritter Gentile: Discouraging bikers from streets doesn't make it safer.