Cars v. bikes in the city

Definitely biking (expect for today: rain).  It takes only a few extra minutes to bike to work than it does to drive and I burn at least 200 calories on the way. 

Helmet or no helmet, I'm way too scared to ride my bike on the busy Chicago streets! I'll take a nice long walk on a sidewalk any day, but it's just too dangerous for me to enjoy bike-riding alongside 2000-pound moving vehicles.

As someone who both bikes/drives in the city -- I can see why both sides get frustrated.  I often drive or bike north on Mozart through Ravenswood Manor on weekday mornings, and on this narrow road it is not uncommon to see drivers impatiently passing dangerously close to cyclists, and bikes vearing too far left and blocking cars from going around.  That said, while bikers should be courteous and mindful of traffic, I think the onus is really on drivers to be careful of bikers on the road.  Bikers have no protection and are no match for a car in any sort of collision. A little too "drivers-ed" style for comfort, but the Chicago Bicycle Program created this video about bike/bus/car safety while sharing the road: http://www.chicagobikes.org/video/?loadVideo=buses_and_bicycles