Invisible Riders

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Dreaming of a world of smiling cyclists, of more bike paths, with less traffic congestion and coexisting modes of transportation, is easy for many riders. But on the streets, on a cheap-yet priceless-bike, there's little opportunity for idealism. Pragmatism and attention keep you alive. Safety sometimes has little to do with helmets or skillful riding techniques.

'My bike is safer,' Francisco Orellano says. What he means is this: Working day to day, he's usually paid in cash. When he took the bus, he faced a long and often late-night walk from the stop to his home, with a pocket_ful of money. Once he was robbed. 'That won't happen to me on a bike,' he says.

This doesn't mean the usual dangers of the street don't exist. Many riders pedal up the left lanes, against traffic. The reason, according to a 2004 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is 'significant cultural differences that affect how Hispanics behave as pedestrians and cyclists in the United States.' In much of Central America, riding against traffic is the norm. The report notes other dangers. For instance, signs advising 'yield' rely on a word that doesn't translate well, and whose logistical gist can be nonexistent on Third World roads.

Even the most familiar features of our roads become obstacles.

'If you've never seen a crosswalk,' says Christine Brittle, a research analyst for the Media Network Inc., a group that helped conduct the federal studies, 'how do you know what to do when you get to one?'

On the street, these factors play out in tragic ways. Los Angeles, according to federal and state statistics, is among the most dangerous cities for cyclists in the country, routinely at or near the top of the list for bicycle-car accidents. In 2003, 3,253 Los Angeles County riders were injured, and 26 killed, in collisions with automobiles, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Most of the riders I met viewed their commute as a battle but exhibited none of the smug antiautomotive posturing many committed middle-class bike commuters wear as a badge of honor. Guillermo Diaz, who works at a restaurant near MacArthur Park, was standing near the entrance of a shopping center, waiting for a friend. He lives in a house with seven others, all of whom ride bikes, all on the sidewalk. I thought of cycling advocates who engage in pitched ideological battles over whether it's safer to mix bikes and traffic or to separate them. There's no doubt that a rider with the skills and equipment needed to navigate alongside cars is probably best balanced between efficiency and safety, but I couldn't argue with Diaz that getting off the sidewalk is simply 'too dangerous.'

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