Bicycle Commuting in St. Post-Dispatch

Todays St. Louis Post-Dispatch had a substantial article about bicycle commuter Ray Rolen, who commutes from St. Charles to Hazelwood daily:

Every day, about 100,000 people commute across the Missouri River, driving from home on one side to work on the other. And every day a handful make a similar commute by bike.

That's not easy, says Ray Rolen, a 57-year-old engineer who pedals 25 miles round trip from St. Charles to work in Hazelwood. The ride takes him over the river, past the fields and through lots of traffic twice every day from April to October.

A few comments about the article:

Bike advocates say the number of people cycling to work in the St. Louis region is growing. But it's still tiny: Just 67 St. Charles County residents pedaled to their jobs in 2000, according to U.S. Census figures.

Though some counties like St. Charles have incredibly small contigents of bicycle commuters (mostly due to poor transportation design, as the article points out) the 2000 census also indicates that about 60,000 Missourians bike or walk to work. And about 10% of Missouri households do not own a car. The percentage of non-car-owning households is as high as 25% in urban areas.

"I must admit, it's an unsafe practice that worries my wife a lot," he said. "But I enjoy this activity so much I cannot conceive not doing it."

Although it sounds as though Mr. Rolen's commute is more difficult than most, it must be pointed out that in general the statistics show that adult bicyclists who respect that law and use accepted good cycling practices are as safe or safer than people who make the same trip by automobile. Bicycle commuters, who make the same trip day after day and know the route well, are among the safest of bicycle riders. On average, bicycle commuters have a 40% lower mortality rate than people who make the very same commute by automobile. And that is only counting accident risk: The health benefit of bicycling outweighs any risk by a factor of 20 to 1 [PDF], while there is no health benefit to automobile driving at all.