Wear bright and comfortable clothing (no loose straps or laces to get caught in moving parts).
Pick a safe, comfortable route.
Identify bicycle parking options at work that are secure and sheltered.
Locate changing and shower facilities in or near your workplace.
Source: The Bicycle Coalition of Maine (www.bikemaine.org)
PROPOSED BICYCLE SAFETY LAW MAINE LAWMAKERS are considering "An Act to Improve Road Safety and Update Bicycling Laws" (L.D. 1808), intended to clarify and strengthen bicyclists' rights and safety. The Legislature's Transportation Committee is scheduled to discuss the bill today. It would:
Require motorists to give at least three feet of clearance when passing bicyclists. For every 10 mph above 35, the minimum clearance would increase an additional foot.
Allow motorists to cross the solid-yellow center line to pass bicyclists when it's safe to do so.
Clarify the requirement for bicyclists to ride to the right and clearly give bicyclists some flexibility when avoiding obstacles, debris, glass, drain grates, broken pavement and right-turn lanes.
Strengthen Maine's bicycle helmet law for riders under 16 with an enforcement option (first offense educate, second offense a $25 fine that can be waived with proof of purchase of a helmet).
Prohibit bicycling while under the influence of alcohol.
Require businesses with drive-up windows to serve bicyclists.
Moulton, an emergency room nurse from South Portland, pedals her bicycle almost everywhere she needs to go. She commutes by bike year-round across the Casco Bay Bridge. She doesn't even own a car.
"Once you start doing it, it's just not as bad as you thought it would be," she said. "It kind of feels good."
Bicycle commuters seem to be a growing presence on Greater Portland's roads as rising gas prices, global warming and other issues force people to reconsider their driving habits and fuel use. The bicyclists also appear to be a growing political force. Lawmakers are considering a bill to make Maine's roads safer for those who pedal to work, in part by requiring motorists to make a little room.
No one knows how many people are now commuting by bicycle, but cyclists say their numbers are definitely growing.
John Brooking, who pedals between his home in Westbrook and his office in South Portland every day, started a Portland-area bicycle commuter club last year and has nearly 70 members (http://bike.meetup.com/132/). "I've gotten a dozen or so in the last couple weeks," he said.
Today is National Bike to Work Day and the final day of Commute Another Way Week in Maine, annual events intended to get people thinking outside the driver's seat.
There's always an increase in bicycle commuting around this time of year, but now the financial, environmental and political motivators are "all kind of coalescing," Brooking said.
Some bike commuters pedal year-round, regardless of weather. Others ride their bicycles some days and drive the others. Taking a bicycle to work even one day a week cuts some commuting costs by 20 percent.
Justin Hall rides a couple of miles from his home in Deering to the Old Port, where he works for a photography company. Only when it's really stormy will he take the car or catch a ride.
"To be honest, I find it easier and more relaxing" to travel by bicycle, he said.
Hall and others said riding to work is generally safe for those who are careful and know the rules. But they also say it does seem to be getting more dangerous because of increasing traffic, more stressed-out drivers, and roads and intersections that aren't designed for bicyclists or pedestrians.
"There's been a couple of close calls," Hall said. "It's definitely a defensive ride at rush hour."
The bill before the Legislature's Transportation Committee would require car and truck drivers to stay at least three feet from bicyclists and would allow motorists to cross the center line to pass bicyclists. The law also sets clearer rules for bicyclists and would make drunk bicycling a crime.
Police officials in Portland and South Portland said there hasn't been any recent rise in car-bicycle collisions, although there are periodic complaints about both motorists and bicyclists hogging roads.
The overall number of reported accidents involving bicycles has remained at about 200 a year for the past five years, according to the Maine Department of Transportation. Between 20 and 25 people are seriously injured each year. Nine bicyclists have been killed in accidents in the past five years, state records show.
Many of the accidents involve bicyclists who are young, inexperienced or not obeying safety rules, said Jeff Miller, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine. Bicycle commuters are the least likely group to be involved in crashes, he said.
"The health benefits of bicycling far outweigh the risks," he said. But "there have been enough bicyclists who have close enough calls that certainly this legislation will be hugely important."
Christian McNeil of Portland commutes by bicycle to Yarmouth and encourages friends and co-workers to bicycle, too.
"The days when I bike to work, I get to work more energized, enthusiastic and productive," he said.
But after a decade of commuting safely in places such as Manhattan and Houston, McNeil said he got...
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