But honestly, unless you're really aware of the issues regarding bicycle use, in and around roadways, or unless you've been personally affected by this type of tragic event, you'd probably have a hard time even guessing how frequently the above happens.
Cyclist Killed...Any guesses as to how many cycling deaths occur each year nationally?
How about around 750 (2001 statistic).
What prompted me to bring up such a morbid topic this morning? I read in the Chicago Tribune this weekend that a 74 year old man was killed riding his bike near Chinatown (may require registration).
Two things struck me about this story: why was he on his bike in such inclement weather (for those of you outside the area, Chicago had a mixture of sleet, snow, and rain this weekend), and Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth." Now the first thought makes total sense; its an easy connection. But how in the world did Al Gore pop into my head?
The 74 year old man was Chinese. And back-in-the-day, China was probably one of the most "Green" countries on the planet. Remember seeing those documentaries about life in China, with thousands on bicycles communting to and fro, or massive groups of people in some sort of Thai-Chi pose? Well ever since China has become industrialized, commercialized, consumerized, and Westernized, it's fast becoming a glutton for fossil fuels.
Now an interesting fact is that more people are using bicycles, nationally let alone worldwide, these days than in 2001, but only very minute pockets of Western culture have truly embraced the bicycle, for all its function and simplcity, as a means to commute.
We always used to kid about what a billion Chinese people could do. Ever imagine what 1.3 Billion people could do to the environment, to the ozone, or to Global Warming?
Scary...
Before
Today
Great post Granny.
ReplyDeleteFact is, China has just surpassed the US as the number one country for oil consumption. Pretty scary considering how hoggish we Yanks can be about lavish travel habits.
I posted it last year but it's no coincidence that Portland, OR stills stands as the only city in the US to actually have reduced they're level of obesity AND pollution and just so happen to be ranked Bicyling's best city for cycling.
Hmmmmm.....now dat dar seems fishy now don't it?
Yeah, I heard that about Portland as well. In fact, before I took this job in Ann Arbor, everyone told me to check out Portland.
ReplyDeleteChina scares me, even more so after I watched a documentary on how they are coping with the massive growth. They are coming up with some great architectural ideas now, but it looked like they were putting up buildings just to do it, hence the traffic. Peoples' commutes by bike used to be around 20-30 minutes one-way, now they live so far out that they have to drive.