I’ve never been much of a bicyclist. To be honest, when I first came to Belize, one of my first purchases was a bike because it’s the most common form of personal transportation where I am, but I hadn’t ridden a bike in decades.
So I took my over-sized, $190 BZD bike, to the edge of town, near the ocean and made sure nobody could see me. I hiked my leg over the too-high center bar and pushed myself off an old dilapidated bench at the abandoned market. Because the wooden bench crumbled with my shove, I took off wobbling and, of course, fell. And not gracefully, either. I was more concerned about whether or not anyone saw me than I was about the scrapes on my leg and elbow.
Thankfully, nobody was watching and my pride was left intact at that moment.
Anyway, that’s the extent of my bicycling expertise.
Right now, I stay at a guesthouse in San Miguel, Belize. Although right now is “low season,” a guest came through a couple weeks ago who was rather interesting. She notified my friend (who owns Back-A-Bush) and explained she would be biking from Independence and wanted a place to stay.
That’s a five-hour ride. On a bike.
Anyway, she showed up on her bike with no problems and ended up staying days longer than she’d planned on. She’d biked from Mexico and was en route to Guatemala. Wow!
Every guest I’ve seen come to Bak-A-Bush is cool. This is not an upscale place. It’s a farm with animals in a Mayan village, so trend-setters and jet-setters don’t typically come here. It’s not vogue. It’s cool. Calm. Peaceful. Natural. Nurturing.
Which also describes most of the guests who come here.
This lady was kind of different. She was tall and thin with very short hair. She was a 52-year-old veteran of the US military; a veterinarian; a bookworm from California. Quite brainy but also quiet and introspective. We were kind of like oil and water, to be honest, but I respected her in some strange way. Despite thinking she might be rather uptight, she ended up being pretty chill. Wasn’t the picky type which is always refreshing.
It really feels awkward when your friend’s guest is someone you just can’t click with for unknown reasons. I don’t like it at all because I generally get along with anyone and find most anything interesting. Thankfully, my friend is an expert hostess and she and this guest got on just fine, of course.
Anyway, a discussion came up about biking and I didn’t agree with her. She was talking about how motorists are rude to bicyclists on the roads.
Inside, my blood got hot. I am a driver, not a biker, and it has really ticked me off in the past to see people put themselves in danger by riding their bikes in – or too close to – the road. My truck is much bigger than their bikes. How dare they blame us in our vehicles for recklessness when they’re the ones putting themselves in danger?
So I politely interjected: “I’m going to be devil’s advocate, here,” I said. Because I didn’t want to offend but I just couldn’t keep it in.
I told her obviously she’s a professional bicyclist – she’d been to tour-de-France, even! – but not all bicyclists are that attentive. I explained that groups (communities, governments, businesses, etc.) are only as good as their weakest links. It is unfortunate and unwise to expect that all bicyclists are as cautious as she and other bikers. I told her how terrifying it is that a bicyclist could carelessly fall or tumble in front of my oncoming bumper and I would be liable and motorists have so many other things to be on the look-out for (cars, kids, animals, etc).
She did not take offense to this at all. At least not visibly but I suspect her blood temperature rose a bit just like mine did. Kind of like when two cats see one another, eyeball each other – maybe their backs rise up a little bit – and then they realize they’re related so they calm down.
She politely went on to explain things in a different light.
The shoulder of the road, she said, is often littered with debris ranging from broken glass to car pieces. These things can cause an accident quicker than a bicyclist hovering over the shoulder line.
Touche’.
People on the shoulder are not as visible as those in the lane with the vehicles. It may piss off a driver to see a bicyclist in their lane, but at least the driver sees them.
Touche’ again.
I went back to reading my book.
I looked it up, later.
I was surprised to find out that my greatest fear (the rider losing control of their bike) is only responsible for about 16% of serious or fatal accidents reported to police. Rather, it is the visibility that causes more accidents.
According to The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, “In collisions involving a bicycle and another vehicle, the most common key contributory factor recorded by the police is ‘failed to look properly’ by either the driver or rider, especially at junctions.”
Similarly, in the US, bicycling accidents are far more likely to happen at intersections where visibility is minimal.
These facts seem to support my friend’s guest’s assertions that sharing the road with motorists does, indeed, help prevent bicycling accidents more than staying in the “bike lanes” or on the shoulders of the roads. Even though accidents will always happen, her claims are supported by facts.
I’ve always said that I would rather be proven wrong and shown the err of my ways, than walk around looking like an idiot, believing something that just isn’t true.
Thanks, California, veteran, veterinarian, biker guest. ❤
So if you’re on your way to the store down the street from your house, think about this the next time you see a bicyclist traveling on the road. You might feel annoyed but remember it could be your brother, sister, child, husband, etc. and you’d rather see them pissing people off, than stumbling over a piece of re-tread on the side of the road.
And if you’re happening along the Southern Highway on your way to Guatemala, give a shout-out to my biking friend, D, who’s probably already sitting somewhere sipping on a bottle of water with her nose in a book.
Cristina Johnson, Vagabond Writer 