Video: Bike Safety in Fairfax County

This week Fairfax County announced the release a bike safety video on their newswire feed (Video: Bike Safety in Fairfax County (July 5, 2011)). It's not a very instructive video; in fact some of it doesn't make any sense. We wish they had taken more time to edit the video and provide some detailed info on bike safety.

The video consists of a discussion by Officer Rex Pagerie, Fairfax Co Police Department with some background video of girls checking over and riding their bikes. See our commentary below the video:



While officer Pagerie provides some good info, parts of it don't make any sense. As he discusses various tips, the video shows unrelated random shots of girls looking over her bike. A shot of brakes being applied shows tires that are badly cracked. He should have discussed the ABC quick check and how to do it.

This is what officer Pagerie says about bike fit: "To get the proper seat height the balls of your feet should be touching. Once you're there you should be in good shape."

He goes on to say "We'll make sure your reflectors are on your bike. State code requires that, that you're visible from 500 feet in front from dawn to dusk, and if you're riding on roadway that's 35 mph or over you have to have a red light on the back of your bike." He neglected to say that you're always required to have a front headlight if riding after dark.

"We know 80% of accidents are head injuries related to bike accidents." Not sure what this means.

"Riders are required to ride on the far side of the roadway." There's no mention of Virginia law that includes all the exceptions to riding "as close as safely practicable to the right curb or edge of the roadway."

Then there's this statement that makes no sense: "They can ride two riders abreast but if a vehicle comes up to overtake them they have to go single file. There's no restrictions on the speed. It would be impossible to keep up with a 35 mile per hour car or faster."

"Riders have to ride with traffic" showing two girls riding on the sidewalk.

"A lot of times you'll see younger riders or kids riding against traffic. Some parents may think that that's an appropriate way to ride so they can see the car coming; it's actually against the code. We prefer that you would ride with traffic and wear something reflective if you're going to ride at night or in the evening hours." Instead of saying that it's against the code he could have explained the many reasons it's dangerous to ride against traffic: Motorists aren't expecting oncoming traffic in their lane, they have less time to react, and the effects of an impact are much greater when both vehicles are riding in opposite directions vs. the same direction.

We think it's time to go back to the editing room and do the film right.