I’ve been wanting to commute to work on my bicycle for some time now. It’s only about 10 miles, but it’s through some potentially nasty traffic. If I’m going to do this, I need to spend some time Saturday driving the roads between to find a decent route that will minimize my interaction with the rest of the traffic. I’m comfortable riding in traffic, but rush hour is a different kind of beast.

Aside from my own close call experiences in Lawrence, the countless close call stories from others, and the general common sense aspect, I witnessed this morning another example of why one should fear riding around moving cars.

I’m heading south on Metcalf I come to College. There’s a bike commuter heading west to east on the south side of the intersection. He *almost* makes it all the way when some asshat heading north in a Sebring-type vehicle just pulls right out in front of him to make a right turn on College. Biker endo’s over the hood. Fortunately, he gets up apparently unhurt and picks up his bike to wheel it to the sidewalk. The driver, to his credit, gets out. While it’s impossible to tell what attitude the driver carries with him this morning, it looked like he was concerned, rather than indignant. I certainly hope so, given that from my point of view he was entirely at fault.

I wonder if car insurance covers cycling… or if there’s anything else for it. If cyclists are required to act like vehicles according to the law, I wonder why we’re not required to be insured like them…