As a longtime practitioner of bicycle commuting, I wonder why you think cell phones have made the practice significantly more dangerous than before.
Sharing the road with cars has always been really dangerous.
Of course, it’s not really the cars that are the problem, it’s the drivers. :-)
Sharing the road with cars has always been really dangerous.
I look at it this way:
Imagine you were forced to move to one of two planets where everything was identical to our planet except for one thing:
On planet 1, everyone driving must have a blood alcohol level of at least .11.
On planet 2, everyone is required to be texting while they drive.
I’d pick planet one in a heartbeat. I’ve seen unbelievable things done by texting drivers. And I’ve done it myself, which is why I no longer do it. A texting driver can find themself all the way over past the right side of the bicycle lane in a heartbeat. Sure, it could happen to anyone, but it was rare before texting. Now it’s downright common.
I’d like to see texting while driving treated like drunk driving. Frankly, I think it’s MORE dangerous than any BAL below .2.