I started riding bikes with my kids when they were very young. I took Max for his first ride in the Burley cart when he was six months old. I strapped his car seat in the cart and off we went. When Annarose was born two years later, Max moved up to a co-pilot seat mounted on my bike, and Annarose rode in the Burley. She rode her first Critical Mass in the Burley cart at the tender age of 2 months while Max rode ‘up front’ with me. For over two hours we wended our way through the streets of St. Louis with over 50 reveling cyclists. Ironically, she didn’t cry once during the entire ride, but when I would try to put her in the mini-van, even on short trips, she would scream and howl. The child-bike configuration evolved over time as we moved through developmental milestones. Now Max and Annarose are 9 and 7, respectively, we live in a different city, they are on their own bikes, and we still bicycle most everywhere most everyday.

We lived in south St. Louis City when I started hauling my kids around by bike. We’d go to playdates, friends’ houses, the zoo, the Science Center, the farmer’s market, just about anywhere within a 5 mile radius of the house, by bike. St. Louis is not known as a bike friendly town, though it has improved a lot in past years, thanks in large part to the work of the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation. When the kids and I arrived by bike, I would occasionally be met with concern and disbelief. "I can’t believe you rode that far." "Isn’t that hard with the kids?" "Isn’t it dangerous hauling your kids around town by bike?"

While I understood and appreciated their concern for our safety, it was a bit galling that they thought I was putting my children in danger. I would patiently explain that bikes are not inherently dangerous, and that if you know how to ride properly, cycling is very safe. I would point out that to get to the zoo, for example, they had driven on Highway 40 or I-44 where cars were driving approximately 70 mph and they had probably been on the road with hundreds of speeding cars and semi-trucks. While I rode on residential streets where the speed limits never exceeded 30 mph and were rarely over 20 mph. I would rarely see more than ten cars on any of my trips from home.

Living in an auto-centric world, it is easy to forget that the main thoroughfares are not the only ways to get about in life. In a car, people usually take the busiest, fastest, most heavily trafficked streets. That’s what cars are about, getting you there as quickly as possible with the fewest stops along the way. What we forget in our auto-centricity is that multiple quieter, less heavily trafficked, and usually prettier, streets parallel every major thoroughfare. So when I head out on my bike with my kids, we are not heading to the biggest busiest streets that are primarily used by car drivers, we head to the quiet little streets that parallel the big thoroughfares through local neighborhoods. Places where most drivers don’t want to go, because they have slow speed limits and lots of stop signs.

A few facts to keep in mind when making the choice between your car and your bike for your next trip.

Over 43,000 Americans are killed in car accidents every year. That’s like the entire population of Columbia (my hometown) being killed every two years in car accidents. Car crashes are the number one cause of death in individuals between the ages of 3 and 33. Do you know anyone who has been killed or hurt in a car crash? I have several friends and relatives who have been. (These statistics are from the NHTSA – National Highway Transportation Safety Administration).

The number one killer of Americans is heart disease, which is very closely tied to a sedentary lifestyle. In study after study, regular exercise has been shown to help decrease the incidence of heart disease, diabetes, several types of cancers, depression, obesity and many other diseases. More and more children in our society are becoming overweight and susceptible these types of diseases, because they don’t have enough activity built into their lives. Bicycling, instead of driving, makes your transportation your exercise, enriching and extending your life while greatly reducing your risk for many types of diseases.

So the next time you tell yourself or someone else, "biking is just so dangerous", make sure you are looking at the real risks.