Bicycling safely in Pittsburgh

“I call it zoning. I quiet all the noise in my head and focus on all the things going on… “I call it zoning. I quiet all the noise in my head and focus on all the things going on around me. Total focus.”

That’s how bicycle safety advocate and Bike Pittsburgh employee Lou Fineberg describes the high he gets while riding a bike. He says “zoning” is an easy feeling to achieve in the Steel City, whether barreling down Grant Street or coasting on Schenley Drive near Flagstaff Hill.

“We have an emerging bike community that is changing the whole culture of Pittsburgh,” Fineberg said. “We’re saving energy and really just enjoying the road.”

Thousands of other Pittsburghers share Fineberg’s two-wheeled infatuation. But, as with every high, there comes a low: More than 700 bicyclists died on U.S. roads in 2008, and 52,000 more were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Oakland faced its own bicycle-related tragedy last year, when a driver of a Ford pickup truck struck and killed a cyclist at the intersection of Meyran Avenue and Louisa Street.

Today a white “ghost bike” is chained to a telephone pole on the corner to commemorate the life of former Oakland resident Ruihui Lin who died in the accident. For riders like Fineberg, the specter cycle serves as a poignant reminder that bike safety is a prevalent Pittsburgh issue.

The dos and do nots

Not six blocks from the intersection of Meyran Avenue and Louisa Street stands Iron City Bikes, one of Oakland’s few full-service bike maintenance shops.

There is nothing casual about Iron City Bikes or the four or five bearded, tattooed men who run it. Inside the shop the walls are lined with locks, chains, pumps and fully assembled cycles. A brown-and-white pit bull roams the tiny space, stepping around the guts of bicycles and the tools used to fix them.

“Never ride on the sidewalk, and always, always carry U-lock,” said Luke Mitchell from behind the counter one afternoon during July’s record-breaking heat wave. An avid cyclist who commutes daily from his South Side home to Oakland, he tries to push safety tips on every customer.

“And if you’re riding at night, you better have lights, and you better not be drunk,” Mitchell said. “If you get into an accident at night without carrying lights, even if the accident is someone else’s fault, it’s still your fault legally. It’s common sense.”

From his own office across town, Fineberg, too, discussed bike safety while dodging the July heat. He thinks the most dangerous mistakes riders make in Oakland are, unfortunately, also the most common.

“It is not at all safer to ride on the sidewalk than it is to ride on the road,” Fineberg said. “That’s a big misconception. You need to be on the side of the road for motorists to clearly see.”

The dangers of sidewalk riding include the obvious: pedestrians, curbs, crosswalks, blind corners and a myriad of other objects. But there are other dangers as well, including broken glass, street signs, lamp posts and parking meters.

“Almost every accident you hear of in town involves a rider mounting or dismounting the sidewalk, flying out from behind a parked car or falling into the road while dodging a pedestrian,” Fineberg said. “We can’t protect bad cyclists.”

Fineberg’s last piece of advice is so obvious that he sometimes forgets to mention it: “Wear a damn helmet.”

Saferiders

More than 53,000 cyclists have died in traffic crashes in the United States since 1932 — the first year in which estimates of bike fatalities were recorded. Since that time, the NHTSA estimates that cyclist deaths have accounted for about 2 percent of all traffic fatalities.

According to PennDOT, 16 bicyclists lost their lives in Pennsylvania last year, including four youths younger than 18.

Fineberg believes accidents like these can put a serious strain on rider-motorist relations, further complicating an already sensitive issue.

“Safe and conscientious driving by both riders and motorists is the only way to build a quality relationship,” he said. “In my experience, I would say there is a great cohesion in Oakland and Pittsburgh, and that has led to something bigger, almost a culture change.”

And while Pittsburgh has had a number of bicycle-related tragedies, that culture change is no endorphin-fueled delusion. In May, the League of American Bicyclists presented Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and the cycling community with a “bronze” bike-friendly community award.

That is a huge turn around for Pittsburgh, Fineberg said, because the same organization once ranked the city the third-worst bike-friendly community in the nation.

“When you look at the number of bike racks in the city now and the sheer number of people you see riding, this is a way of life.”