Whether it’s gun violence or irate drivers, hearing of a tragedy such as the cyclists killed in Michigan a few days ago is never easy, especially when its innocent victims who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even though you probably don’t have any direct connection to an event, it hits you deeper than you would have thought. You place yourself in a similar situation and imagine how it would feel if you were one of the victims parents, children, significant others, or simply friend. In this particular situation, it’s easy to point fingers and say what caused it. This is not always the case but regardless, there is always something we can learn from events.
Danger in Any Activity
Because we live in a world where actions have consequences, there is always some amount of danger in anything that we do. A meteor could plummet out of the sky, hit you, and you wouldn’t even know what happened. This of course has a ridiculously low probability of occurring (1 in 20,000,000,000,000 chance) but it’s still a chance. The level of fear we have in a situation is largely dependent upon how much control we have with the less control resulting in greater fear. This lack of control can be attributed to someone else or our own lack of ability in a certain situation.
Danger Riding A Bike
Taking the lack of control in a situation toward riding a bike; we have control over the majority of situations meaning that we dictate how fast we go through a corner, which roads we ride on, things of that nature. The things we can’t control, which is where the majority of fear resides in riding a bike, are the things like irate drivers, mountain bikers coming around a corner on a trail that neither one can see through, or drivers that simply don’t care and will run you off the road. These are the things that scare us the most riding a bike.
Being Okay With Not Being In Control
When we’re not in control of a situation it’s very hard to be comfortable; this is human nature and what helps to keep us alive. As cyclists, particularly road cyclists, we become used to the constant buzz of traffic and what was once a large fear, and is for the vast majority of humans, no longer scares us as much. This is you becoming more okay with not being in complete control; you can’t control what that driver does behind you but you have some amount of trust in them not to hit you. Nine times out of ten, or probably more accurately, 9,999 times out of 10,000, or more even, that driver is not going to hit you and values life regardless of whose life it is.
What Can We Learn From The Cyclists Killed In Michigan
If something like this were ever to happen to you, the one thing you would probably want is for it to never happen to anyone else ever again; that people should have learned from the event, whether drivers, riders, law enforcement, or law makers. The bad things in history should never repeat themselves because in theory, we are smart beings who can learn from our mistakes. Unfortunately this doesn’t always happen but what we can do is to help make a situation like this as least likely to happen again as possible. We of course aren’t all but are definitely one of the above; drivers, riders, law enforcement, or law makers and can help to have an impact on the likelihood of a repeat occurrence. If you are one of the following you should:
Driver: be aware of your surroundings including cyclists. They will be where you least expect them and where you are not looking. If you are unaware how to drive around cyclists, read this. And of course you should never, ever drive impaired (the likely cause of the tragedy in Michigan).
Cyclist: never trust anyone other than yourself or someone that you have reason to trust. This means that you should not trust that the driver behind you is going to see you and not hit you. The more aware that you are and the less busy roads you choose will help in lowering the likelihood of an incident like the one in Michigan from happening to you. Of course it is always still a possibility as in this world we can’t take the probability to zero of something bad happening. It’s something we have to live with and we know that freak accidents like the one in Michigan can happen.
Law Enforcement: do what you’re trained to do. Protect citizens and enforce laws to protect citizens. Relating to cyclists; this includes watching out for irate drivers and should a driver create a dangerous situation, correct it by educating them in an effective manner to help ensure they never do it again and that they are not just aware of cyclists but are looking out for them.
Law Maker: do everything you can to ensure that laws are passed that help to protect cyclists and create safe roadways. This includes things like creating 3+ foot passing laws and should an accident occur, whether injury or death results, appropriate punishments be carried out to not only serve justice but to show others that should you hit a cyclist with a vehicle, you will be punished to the fullest extent of the law; much like hitting a construction worker is punished.
Other: regardless of who you are, should you see an irate driver, as a number of citizens called in the driver prior to the incident, do everything in your power to stop them. This is largely dependent upon the situation and in most cases it is notifying the appropriate authorities.
In Closing
The tragedy of the cyclists killed in Michigan is something you never want to hear of. Innocent people just out enjoying the day and never making it home. It’s easy to be angry, sad, scared but one thing you can take from this is learning that there are things we have control over and things that we do not. In those situations that we do not, make sure that you do everything you can to have the most control possible. Stay safe, stay in control, and do whatever you are capable of to help prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.
