How safe is it to bike around the District? One mom in Northeast D.C. has gone carless, and despite a recent run-in with a car, she thinks it’s pretty safe.
Lelac Almagor’s family stopped driving in 2019.
“We own a car, but we literally have to set a reminder to start it once a month and drive it around the block,” Almagor said.
Almagor, who is known online as the DC Trike Mom, said that just recently while riding her electric tricycle, a car bumped into her. But it’s the first time that’s happened since she started riding in 2019.
She said there’s been a few other incidents along the way during her 17,000 miles on the bike, but this was the first time a car was involved.
“I’ve been hit by a cyclist before,” Almagor said. “My husband once had to swerve to avoid a parked scooter and put his knee through a fence … I’ve hit pot holes, we’ve had other incidents, and I’ve had a lot of close calls, (but) this is my first time having a collision with a car.”
No one was hurt in the incident. Almagor uses the trike to get all around D.C. and usually has her three kids in tow, although they were not with her during the collision with the car.
Almagor’s kids ride in a specialty wagon-style structure that’s part of the bike.
Why did her family choose to go carless? Almagor said she saw a few other people doing it, and decided to give it a try for that reason and more.
“The amazing thing about it, obviously from the big picture, is life is more sustainable and more affordable,” she said. “But on an everyday level, I think what drives me in the morning is that it’s just so much more fun.”
She said her life is less stressful without a car and it’s great for her relationship with her kids.
“All that time you have to spend getting your kids from place to place, it’s a joyful time,” Almagor said.
She wants other people considering going carless to know that she’s not some super athlete, and that’s why she does it.
“I’m not a confident cyclist, I’m not very athletic,” she said.
Almagor said she thought this decision would change her family’s lives, and she was right.
On the question of whether D.C. is a safe place to bike, Almagor looks at the progress that’s been made.
“The infrastructure has gotten so much better, even since I started,” she said. “But there is still a long way to go to make it fully connected.”
