Urbana-Champaign Bicycle Commute

THis morning a lady chatted with me at the bike rack. "I see how you go," she said. ""I would do it. I ride my bike a lot, but it's not safe. Drivers just don't pay attention." One had cut her off, sent her into gravel, which sent her over the handlebars, but the driver didn't even stop as she was cut and bleeding by the side of the road. I came to realize she really meant it - she *would* rather ride her bike to work, and she was a dedicated cyclist, not simply a voicer of good intentions.
She rides a lot, mostly on bike paths, but still has to negotiate busy streets.
How many more are like her?
(And how would she best be served? Would she ride on a path such as Windsor's? ... until a car in a conflict zone clocked her? Or has she gotten car-shy and it would take more than that, separate paths or at least cycling-is-an-acceptable-norm or desensitization).

Oh, and just heard that one of my students' husbands, from Mahomet, was killed in a bicycle accident on Saturday the 15th. No details.

Last night the first Pedestrian & Cycling Advisory Commission met in Urbana. Details soon...