After seeing my 3rd friend in Seattle (supposedly a fairly “bike friendly” city) get hit by a car and need to be hospitalized

By brother also got hit near Seattle and needed dental work and I think hospitalization. He was largely okay, but was hit hard enough that he blacked out. The frustrating thing is that he was riding on a separated bike path and was hit when he had right of way at a car intersection. It turned out that the city was at fault, because both the car and the cyclists had right of way, so they were able to successfully sue the city for a settlement and get the intersection fixed.

Yes, in many areas it's "not safe yet," but situations like this have a silver lining: it's getting safer.

In my area, I have an awesome bike path that goes something like 20 miles (I live right next to the midway point), and my city is finally connecting one of the minor trails in my city to it. There are also trails connecting to both ends (15 more miles to the south, northern end goes >50 more miles), so the actual total length is closer to 100, and many of the busier intersections have tunnels for the bike path. I used to ride it 10 miles each way to work (work was right off the path), and it was fantastic.

That said, my new job isn't along this path, and getting from the path to my work requires 7-ish miles on a narrow 2-lane road (one each direction) with minimal shoulder. These paths go through the main residential areas and connect to several hiking and MTB trails, but they don't go into city centers and avoid many of the business districts, so they're mostly useful for recreation unless your work happens to be near residential areas.

That said, I do encourage people to get into it. Cycling can be really safe and a very healthy way to get around, but only if you're careful on your route. There are routes I absolutely avoid, but most places I want to go have a (slightly longer) safe route using side roads and trails to get there. So if you're interested, don't take the "it's not safe yet" for given, check your local area and likely routes and see what the infrastructure looks like. Maybe even drive the route a couple times to get a feel for how the car interactions look before jumping in the saddle.

I will say, the only accident I've had on my bike was taking a spill on the bike path due to icy conditions, and that was just some scrapes and a bruised ego. Cycling can be completely safe, just be careful where you ride.

I mean, people get injured or killed in car crashes, too, or even just doing things around the house. Life is never completely safe.

On average, you're extending your life by cycling. Unfortunately, incidents do occur sometimes.

It never will be until cities adopt bike/pedestrian only roads...because no amount of awareness fixes a stupid or angry car driver. I have had a few instances of car drivers purosely attempt to block my travel.

One was on a one way street and truck did not like that he may have to switch lanes to pass safely, he was yelling at me to use the side walk. When I told him I had the same road rights, he turned his truck into the curb ahead of me so my path was blocked and I had to curb hop to avoid getting squished.

Second one was a stop sign that backed up traffic, i stay toward curb and all cars pass me until they get to stop sign, as a cyclist I can still keep travelling and pass those that passed me. There would always be some jealous idiot swing their door open hoping it would stop me. Again, I would hop curb to avoid their door.

That mentality of "I have more rights" as a driver, will never go away unless every vehicle had to be a bike for a while. A good punishement for bad drivers would be force them to bike for a few weeks to see what it is like on the receiving end.

yet

The reality of everything in this world is that if you have to wait for things to be perfect, you'll be waiting forever.

Sure, cycling infrastructure isn't great in North America. And some places (like, Ontario, Canada) have actively hostile campaigns against cyclists and remove any safety implements that have been established.

But if we don't get on our bikes, it only proves that "nobody wants to cycle", and the infrastructure will never get built.

And really, it's not even about infrastructure anymore. We had a 13-year-old killed on cycling infrastructure because a driver ignored a stop sign.

We (like the entire world) need to make driving so inconvenient that it becomes the last choice to get around. Only then will people who 100% need to drive be behind the wheel. And because they need to drive, maybe they'll pay attention to what they are doing.

I do sympathize with people who are afraid or put off by the risk of cycling in some places. I do get it, and there are areas where I live that I avoid cycling through. But I do cycle with the mindset that drivers are all idiots who aren't paying attention and/or want to run me over. So even when I have the right of way, I assume that drivers will not acknowledge it.