Re: electric bicycle

["Peter VanDerWal" <peterv@peoplepc.com>]

Higher speed does NOT equal greater safety, far from it.  I regularly
commute by bicycle, I have for over twenty years.  My average commute has
been 8 to 10 miles (each way),  I have more miles commuting by bicycle than
I do by car.

I have gone down twice and been hit by a car once.  The car was going about
20-30 mph faster than me when it hit me,  I got almost as much damage from
sliding along the ground afterwards as I did from the car (I was going about
18 mph at the time).

I've never hit the ground faster than 20 mph but I've seen people who have
gone down at 35 mph, it aint pretty.

The faster you go, the faster things go wrong.

My opinion; you are safer going 20 mph with cars traveling at 35 mph, than
you are riding at 35 mph.

Note: my current commute is 8.5 miles along a road with cars going 60+ mph
(55 mph posted), fortunately there is a wide shoulder.

I don't get the economics reference.  It's cheaper to go slow than it is to
go fast, much cheaper.  If your commute is 10 miles it only takes about 12
minutes longer to travel at 20 mph than it does at 35 mph.

If speed is your desire, then I recommend going the motorcycle route; at
least that way when you go down (and sooner or later you will) you'll be
dressed for it.

Besides 35 mph isn't legal on a power-assisted bike.  If the cops pull you
over they can (and probably will) confiscate the vehicle, after all it's an
illegal vehicle.

>There are two reasons for speed: one is economics, the other safety. In
>order to help justify the cost, it has to replace a lot of car trips,
>which for me means commuting. I probably won't want to use it if it makes
>me late for work. As far as safety goes, when I actually was bicycle
>commuting 5 miles to work my first year of grad school, the part that made
>me most nervous was having to merge with traffic going much faster than
>me. Both of these indicate that being able to keep up with motor vehicles,
>at least on side streets, is a good idea.
>
>The other way to go is all the way up to a motorcycle or car. The
>available range worries me, though, so I'd like to have something not too
>painful to pedal home.
>
>I've never actually tried an EV, though, so all comments appreciated.
>
>Doug Ridgway
>
>